


Moth

by TerrifiedAristocrat



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - No Sennen Items | Millennium Items, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Bisexual Panicking, Blood Drinking, Blood and Violence, Except The Rod But That's A Hammer, F/M, Hypnotism, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, they were roommates (oh my god they were roommates)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:54:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26829934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerrifiedAristocrat/pseuds/TerrifiedAristocrat
Summary: Domino City is a sprawling college port town with a nightlife rife with dangerous creatures that can pull even the most wary person astray. Even the vampires who live in the city must stay on their toes, as they start disappearing one by one leaving their leader in quite the bind. That's not even mentioning the downright unusual foreign students starting their freshman year at Domino University...
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Bakura Ryou/Thief King Bakura, Bakura Ryou/Yami Marik, Honda Hiroto | Tristan Taylor/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kujaku Mai | Mai Valentine
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	1. I Would Shun the Light

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea in my head for the past two weeks now. I hope you all enjoy.

“I had been lost to you sunlight  
Flew like a moth to you oh sunlight  
Oh your love is sunlight...”  
-Hozier, Sunlight

The summer night swirled suffocatingly around Bakura as he inhaled needlessly, tasting bonfire ash, citronella oil, chlorine, and the heady aroma of someone roasting sausages in the air. Not for the first time he missed his time in Egypt so very long ago when he was human, the satisfaction of sinking his teeth into meat fried in oil so it was crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. In more recent times, Bakura still satisfied hunger by sinking his fangs into flesh, but for a more liquid diet.

Speaking of which, he needed someone to eat, and quickly. He barely broke out of whatever contraption that stupid vampire hunter caught him in- if he was a lesser being, he would have imploded into dust by how much energy the thing siphoned off of him. Luckily for Bakura, he’d been around long enough to build up quite a bit of power, which was all but depleted at the moment. He couldn’t even bend the shadows to hide his form and had to resort to more human ways of hiding in the darkness, moving quickly to avoid detection. He pulled the hood of his jacket up over his shock of white hair, wracking his brain for any cults of his that may be in the area. Vampires and humans alike that knew of him whispered his name only as The Thief King, a true monarch of the shadows who blessed thieves with the new moon on the darkest nights to make their hunts easier. 

Bakura followed his feet as they led him into a surrounding forest, picking up speed as he moved. Food was important, but there was a crazed vampire hunter lingering in that town and Bakura wanted to put some distance between himself and the thing that nearly killed him. Distance, then food, then information on what he just escaped. The closest place that had food and information had to be Domino City, a sprawling port town a few days' travel (for a human) from where Bakura was. While yes, it was under the dominion of another vampire who would probably kill Bakura if he saw him, the place was big enough that if Bakura was careful, he wouldn’t be noticed. 

More importantly, there were many doorways that lead to places, not all of whom catered to a human influence. People who knew called the place these doors led to The Badlands, which was a more accurate term for them than the term given the creatures that lived there- The Fair Folk. Domino City’s proximity to The Badlands meant the humans who lived there had stronger magical auras and more filling blood. All he had to do was avoid some of the heavier hitting fae that wandered the streets at night, avoid the ever obnoxious Pharaoh Atem, regain his strength, and then everything would be fine. 

\--

Ryou Bakura popped a piece of cinnamon gum in his mouth and chewed it slowly, enjoying the way his teeth broke through the outer shell. He focused on this as the plane he was on began its descent towards Domino City Airport. Ryou wasn’t afraid of the act of flying, it was fear of the unknown before him that drew anxiety up Ryou’s spine from his gut like bubbles in carbonated water. He closed his eyes and chewed his gum, breathing in and out of his nose like he was taught to help calm down the thundering of his heart. Luckily Ryou’s body knew what it was doing and before long he was stepping off of the plane that took him halfway across the world, wandering aimlessly to go gather his luggage. He already had many of his things shipped to his dorm, which meant all he had to pack were clothes and the like. 

Ryou blearily looked at the clocks in the airport and realized it was 3:05 in the morning- the people he was supposed to meet wouldn't be here for a few more hours. Ryou groaned internally and went looking for a place to sit and wait. His anxiety bubbled up again as people seemed to filter out of the airport, hailing taxis or wandering to the parking garage to pick up their vehicles. He pulled out his phone and selected a mindless mobile puzzle game to distract himself with, tucking himself into an uncomfortably molded plastic chair with his luggage encircling him like a protective circle.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryou saw something dark move. He told himself it was a person and continued playing. He’d been considering taking a nap here while he waited for Yugi to show up, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep here. The air felt cold and too dry, as if it would shatter if Ryou sneezed. He continued tapping on his phone, battling the twin urges in his mind to pay no attention to anything he hears and to also listen for approaching threats. The latter urge won- millenia of survival instincts bore heavily on Ryou’s mind as he sat, alone and yet not, in an airport in the wee hours of the morning. 

The first thing he heard was a soft taptaptaptap that for a split second reminded Ryou of rain dancing on the eves of his house back in Kent, England. Then there was a soft shuffle of what may have been feet passing by, soft whispers in a language Ryou didn’t understand in a technical sense but felt in the marrow of his bones. Finally the whispers turned into words, someone singing along to an ancient chant that blurred nonsensically between what could be understood and what couldn’t. The words sung were painfully familiar, a song he’d heard before years before when all he could feel was the pain of his feet beating against concrete and the sweaty grasp of his little sister’s hand in his own-

“Run little rabbit run, born under an unlucky star, run little rabbit run, you will not make it very far...”

Ryou’s hands shook as memories crawled out from his throat, memories of running, memories of the last time he saw Amane, memories of something too large with too many fingers holding him like a child cupping a moth. He could feel the currents of air of things passing close to him and-

Ryou’s phone buzzed and he jumped, yelping softly as he fumbled to keep a hold of his phone. There was a notification from his friend Yugi, saying that their bus had arrived.

Yugi Mutou was someone Ryou considered a close friend, despite not physically have met him yet. Three years of emails, IMing, voice calls and even physical letters does that to someone. Remembering the fact that Ryou was going to finally meet Yugi in person put an extra burst of energy into Ryou’s stomach. He squinted and watched the clumps of people drifting in until he spotted a shock of hair he’d recognize anywhere and waved him down.

Yugi Mutou was an interesting sort of guy. He was much shorter than Ryou had expected even though Yugi warned him of this, dressed in his usual black leather ensemble. Yugi’s attire screamed punk but his face and wide eyes screamed baby and the combination was incredibly endearing. Ryou even had a crush on him when they first met, but it turned into more of a platonic relationship bonding over games. 

Walking with Yugi was a taller guy with more tan skin and a shaggy mane of blond hair. If Ryou had to guess he’d say that was Jounouchi Katsuya. Another tall man with a neatly combed mess of brown hair was walking with the group but in a manner that indicated he did not want to be with this group and just happened to be heading in the same direction. This man muttered something and the blond sneered, inviting this man to, if Ryou heard it right, shove it up his ass. Well then. 

“Ryou!” Yugi seemed to not touch that interaction with a ten foot pole and focus instead on his friend, who stood and tried to run towards Yugi only to trip and stumble over his own bags, just barely righting himself before pulling the shorter man into a hug. 

“Yugi! I’m so glad you made it safely!” Ryou exclaimed.

“Me? I was more worried about you, flying all the way from England,” Yugi retorted. “We just had a bus ride,”

“A bus ride with the biggest egomaniac on the planet you mean,” the blond grumbled. “Hey. ‘M Jounouchi, you can call me Jou if you want. You must be the uh, you’re the creepy one right?”

Ryou flushed bright red at this, as did Yugi.

“Jou that’s not nice!” Yugi chided.

“What? You watch horror movies with him for fun! That’s creepy,” Jounouchi pointed out. 

“He has a point there,” Ryou admitted, laughing a little.

“Not to mention that tarot thing, gives me the creeps,” Jounouchi added.

“You’re just upset that I (successfully) predicted that Honda’s latest relationship would fall through-”

“Anyone who knows the dude could predict that,” Jounouchi pointed out.

“But the exact manner? Cheating with a fisherman?” Yugi pressed.

“Lucky guess. Creepy as hell, but lucky,” Jounouchi shook his head. Ryou chuckled and glanced at Yugi.

“Done any readings on this semester?” he asked.

“Not yet. I wanted to wait until we were settled, maybe sleep a few nights here with my deck,” Yugi replied. “Speaking of Honda, he invited us out for breakfast at a local spot he frequents. Guess he’s in the same dorm as us, so I thought it would be a good chance for you to meet him,”

“He’s kinda a meathead who gossips like an old woman, but he’s a good friend,” Jounouchi added reassuringly.

“Sounds fine to me,” Ryou’s stomach complained. “We’ll probably have to wait a few hours though for any of the local places to be open,”

“What do you mean?” Yugi blinked at Ryou. “It’s almost 7 am, most places should be plenty open by now,”

“Really?” Ryou frowned and glanced around at the clocks at the airport- sure enough, the closest one read 6:55 on its blaring red display. “Huh. Must have lost track of time,”

“Happens in airports,” Yugi nodded sagely. “We need to stop at the dorm first though and drop off our stuff. I’m losing feeling in my fingers!” 

Jounouchi offered to hail his own taxi as he’d actually been in Domino City before while Yugi and Ryou got one together and split the bill. Their cabbie was politely impatient as they wrangled their luggage into the trunk of the vehicle, and Ryou made sure to tip him generously. 

Their dorm was an imposing victorian styled building that was the sixth of seven dorm buildings in the block closest to Domino University. Oddly enough each dorm building seemed to be modeled after actual houses, complete with a porch in the front. Dorm number six had a lanky dark haired man with the most striking green eyes Ryou had ever seen who was already talking to Jounouchi. He was holding a red cup with an assortment of popsicle sticks that rattled invitingly. Jounouchi seemed to be peering at it suspiciously. Ryou and Yugi hurried over, awkwardly lugging their luggage.

“Oh hello,” the dark haired man glanced up at them with a slow grin that probably drove the ladies crazy. “Are you more lost little chicks for my henhouse?”

“I don’t know about chicks but we’re here for dorm number six,” Yugi replied brightly. Ryou kept quiet, chewing the inside of his cheek. He had a funny feeling.

“How delightful. How may I call you two?” the man asked.

“Your name first,” Ryou said before Yugi could answer. The man met his gaze and his lips quirked into a wide smile, possibly wider than was natural.

“That’s awfully demanding for someone who will be living in my space,” he pointed out.

“What can I say, I’m not used to the culture here,” Ryou shrugged. “I’ll give my name if you give yours,”

The man sighed and jostled his cup.

“I may have to give you bad luck for whatever dorm you draw,” he remarked petulantly.

“One of us gets a dorm to themself,” Jounouchi explained, excited in his tone.

“Oh I’m unlucky enough as it is,” Ryou replied sweetly. The man looked at him seriously and Ryou could feel his skin prickle under the gaze, before nodding.

“I suppose you are, aren’t you? Very well. I’m Ryuuji,” he said.

“Ryou,” Ryou replied simply.

“I’m Yugi Mutou. You said we’re drawing for dorms?” Yugi asked.

“Yes, there are four dorm rooms, six sticks. Draw a yellow stick and you’re in dorm room one, draw a blue stick and you’re in dorm room two. Draw a red stick and you’re in a dorm room with me, and draw a black stick and you’re in your own room. It’s all based on luck,” Ryuuji smiled again, although Ryou noticed it was a normal smile.

“I’ll go first,” Ryou volunteered, stepping closer. As he stepped onto the porch he could feel the hum of protective barriers around the building. There was absolutely no way Ryuuji, if that even was his real name, was human. At this point, all Ryou could do was play by his rules and hope his intentions were at least neutral ones. Without much preamble, Ryou plucked a stick from the cup and revealed a blue painted tip. “Room two for me then, huh?”

“Second one down to the right,” Ryuuji nodded, glancing at Jounouchi and Yugi. Yugi stepped forward and grabbed another stick, pulling it out to reveal another blue tip.

“Hey Ryou! We’re roommates!” Yugi exclaimed.

“Excellent!” Ryou grinned. 

“How lucky,” Ryuuji remarked, jostling the cup again and offering it to Jounouchi. “And you?”

“C’mon luck be a lady....” Jounouchi reached in and pulled out his stick, the tip painted black. “Aw yeah!”

“Incredible,” Ryuuji nodded. “Your room is the second one to the left. Once everyone is here I will go over the rules but for now, best settle in to your new home,”

Ryou didn’t need to be told twice- he didn’t want to be around Ryuuji any more than he had to be. Everywhere he looked in the beige painted walls of their dorm building he felt little touches of wrongness crawling across the wood, squirming in the plush carpet under his feet. 

This was going to be a long semester. 

Their room was snug with two twin sized platform beds placed flush to opposite walls, each bed in front of a window. One side had a hefty dresser pushed against the wall, the other side had two doors, one of which led to a decently sized closet and the other to the bathroom that they would share with room number one. Ryou took the bed closest to the bathroom and Yugi took the other one and began unpacking their things in relative quiet, only broken by the occasional curse at unpacking his air mattress (Yugi) or the rumble of his stomach (Ryou). After about 45 minutes of unpacking Jounouchi knocked on their door and hung out on the doorframe.

“Hey guys, Honda just got her and we thought I’d christin the kitchen by making breakfast here instead of going out,” Jounouchi informed them.

“Awesome!” Yugi grinned. “You know what I like for breakfast,”

“Pancakes, got it, can do... and Ryou my man? What do you like in the morning?” Jounouchi asked.

“Uh, eggs?” Ryou asked, a little confused. “Fried eggs and toast,”

“Want some bacon too? Think I saw a pack of it in the fridge,” Jounouchi commented thoughtfully.

“Oh yes, if that’s not a problem,” Ryou nodded. “Do you need any help in the kitchen?”

“Oh no, the kitchen is my sacred place. Don’t mess with it,” Jounouchi told Ryou seriously. Judging by the serious look on Yugi’s face, this was a common concern. 

“Okay,” Ryou shrugged. He could respect that. “Mr. Ryuuji is alright with the cooking?”

“It’s part of the agreement for rent,” Jounouchi explained. “At least it is for me, I cook for the people living here. It’s good practice for me, you see. I’m gonna start my own restaurant and am in the culinary program at Domino U,” 

“You haven’t lived until you’ve had some of Jou’s cooking,” Yugi added brightly, his compliment making Jounouchi’s cheeks turn pink. That made Ryou smile as he watched Jounouchi make hasty excuses about having to get started and scurry away.

“He doesn’t take compliments so well, huh,” Ryou remarked.

“He’s not used to it,” Yugi replied. “I’m still working on getting him more comfortable with it,”

“That’s very kind of you,” Ryou said, making his bed meticulously as he watched Yugi shuffle his tarot deck out of the corner of his eye.

“Jou’s a good friend,” Yugi nodded.

“He seems like it,” Ryou paused for a moment and then stretched. He watched Yugi tuck his deck lovingly under his pillow before rising and straightening his leather choker. The two of them walked out of their room and down the hall into the living area, where Ryuuji and three other people Ryou didn’t recognize lounged on a collection of loveseats arranged around a TV set

“Hey Yugi there you are,” one of the people- a tall brunet in a leather jacket- waved them over.

“Hey Honda, how are you?” Yugi bounced over to the man, pretty much dragging Ryou into the room.

“I’m doing great! Glad to see you guys here! Oh and you’re Yugi’s spooky friend, right? Ry-something?” Honda asked. Ryou gave a bland smile.

“Ryou,” he pronounced the name carefully. Some people back in England had a hard time with it.

“Right. I’m Hiroto Honda but I just go by my last name since it’s easier for most people to remember,” Honda explained.

“And showing solidarity with Jou,” Yugi added.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Honda nodded. “You see, he’s a military brat like me, half Japanese. Dude’s too proud of his first name to change it but growing up he got picked on for it a lot so he just went by Jou or Joey for people who really couldn’t get it,”

“Oh, right,” Ryou nodded- he could understand that. He could probably talk about how in England he was called Bakura more often than not, but he didn’t want Ryuuji to know his last name, so he just stood there awkwardly and shuffled his feet, enjoying the scent of food wafting in from the kitchen just across the half wall. 

“Now that I have all my ducklings in one place...” Ryuuji began.

“I thought we were chicks,” Ryou muttered under his breath.

“...let me go over the rules. It’s very simple- food stays in the kitchen or I’ll know about it, no drugs or alcohol or I’ll know about it, if you bring someone home for the night be mindful of our thin, thin walls, curfew is at 11:00 and if you break it come up with an interesting lie at the breakfast table. Understood?” Ryuuji continued. Once he got nods from the occupants of the room, he continued. “This isn’t a rule, but I highly recommend that if you do go out and drink- yes, I know you all are 19 and what you do outside my walls is honestly none of my business unless you get caught- avoid the bars on 5th Avenue. That’s not a place for any of you to be,” 

“Ominous,” Yugi commented quietly.

“Yeah, gotta be careful about that whole block. That’s where the vampires hang out,” Honda remarked with an amazingly straight face. 

“Wait, seriously?” one of the other dorm members, a buff kid named Robin, asked.

“Don’t believe what that meathead says,” Jounouchi called from the kitchen, pointing an accusatory spatula at Honda. “One time he told me there were werewolves in the forest-”

“Dude, that was just one time-”

“And trust me, there weren’t,” Jounouchi finished. “That kinda stuff doesn’t exist,” Ryou glanced at Ryuuji, who seemed to be watching the whole spectacle with a look of amusement on his face. He caught Ryou’s eye and winked. 

Ryou knew better.


	2. I Sold My Soul to a Three Piece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Siblings understand more than they appear. Whispers heard in the dark have unfortunate consequences. A chess game is interrupted.

“My demons are begging me to open my mouth,  
I need them, mechanically make the words come out,  
They fight me, vigorous and angry, watch them pounce  
Ignite me, licking at the flames they bring about,” 

-Halsey, Hold Me Down

Seto Kaiba wasn’t nervous. He didn’t get nervous. The twitch in his fingers as he stood at the gate to his father’s ostentatious mansion wasn’t anxiety. As for what it was, Seto didn’t have a name for it. All he knew was that it was not anxiety, no sir.

He introduced himself over the intercom, wincing subtly at the crackling feedback. Seto was known here, even though it had been four years since he’d set foot on his father’s property, four years since that argument and the chess game that followed. Seto wrinkled his nose and shifted his luggage, trudging through the gates as they opened noisily. 

If Seto was honest with himself, he didn’t want to see his father. Gozaburo Kaiba was, in short, a dick. In his freshman year, Seto had still idolized the man even after he condemned Seto to public high school in a town over for the grievous sin of not only talking back to him, but beating him in a game of chess. Now that Seto was a few years older and wiser, he decided he strongly disliked his father. 

Ordinarily, that would mean that Seto would make this man’s life a living hell, but as his brother Mokuba was still under eighteen, Seto couldn’t see him unless he played nice with his father. So, that’s what he was here to do. Play nice. Maybe even smile a little. 

“Seto!”

Seto was knocked out of his thoughts by the twelve year old terror to candy shops everywhere- Mokuba Kaiba, barrelling into his older brother. Seto let out an ungraceful grunt as he righted himself and glanced down at Mokuba with the softest look he’d shown another human in quite a while. 

“Mokuba. You look well,” he said this as a nicety, of course- Seto took the moment to look his brother over and make sure that he was indeed alright- Mokuba looked on the thin side and his skin had a paleness to it that Seto didn’t like. Overworked. For a moment, Seto’s vision fuzzed and Mokuba looked like himself again. 

“You look good too! I missed you!” Mokuba chirped, hugging Seto tightly. Seto relaxed into the hug for a moment, knowing that Mokuba didn’t hug him unless their father was occupied. When he felt Mokuba pull away abruptly, he knew to straighten and stiffen his body language as if he had not just been demonstrating human emotions.

“Seto,” Gozaburo greeted from the top of the stairs in the entryway, looking annoyed and his voice dripping with disapproval. Bad sign. “What are you doing here?”

“Given that the fall semester at Domino University starts in three days, it was only logical for me to move my things back into my old room,” Seto explained blandly.

“Absolutely not,” Gozaburo replied. Seto blinked.

“Why not?” he asked. Gozaburo barked out a sharp peal of laughter.

“The fact that you even have to ask shows you learned nothing from your exile,” he sneered. Seto clenched his jaw. “I never said you could come back to live here, now did I?”

“I assumed-”

“You assumed incorrectly. Since I’m in a good mood, you can catch up with your brother for another hour. If you’re not off my property after that, I’ll have you escorted out,” Gozaburo finished and turned his heel to stalk off, leaving Seto standing in the doorway of his own home, still as a statue.

Seto had always heard anger described as a red hot thing, like lava flowing through one’s veins. Seto disagreed. To him, anger was a glacier forming in his chest, ice extending to his limbs and crystalizing everything into a solid and unbreakable mass.

“I’m sorry,” Mokuba whispered. “I was afraid he’d be like this. Stocks went down,”

“That’s his excuse?” Seto asked softly. Mokuba shrugged weakly.

“I can’t do anything about it,” he said quietly, almost to himself more than Seto. “But... I can pull some favors, get you into one of the local dorms. I’ll at least try,” 

“Thank you,” Seto murmured, letting Mokuba tug him down a hall into his bedroom. He sat down at the foot of Mokuba’s too soft bed stiffly, letting his gaze pass over the various games and toys that littered the room from the most recent video game consoles to what looked like an elaborate pile of fidget spinners. Mokuba tapped aggressively at his phone while Seto took several deep breaths to loosen up the glacier in his chest. 

“I may have something. I have to wait for him to respond,” Mokuba spoke up.

“Hopefully he does so within the hour,” Seto sighed. Mokuba nodded. “Do you still have your chessboard?”

“Of course! Want a game?” Mokuba asked cheekily. Seto snorted. 

“When have I ever said no to a game of chess with you,” he asked. Mokuba laughed and pulled out the board they always used, something carved of wood smoothed down after years of gameplay. There were even a few subtle grooves on the board itself, divots worn into the fibre of the wood itself. Mokuba pulled out a velveteen bag full of pieces and started methodically setting up the board. Seto took the clear crystal pieces, Mokuba took the black crystal ones. That’s how Mokuba taught him- no wait, Seto taught Mokuba chess, that’s how it went. Seto blinked a few times and Mokuba had the board set up, smiling at him patiently. It had been a while. 

“Been keeping up with your chess play? I hadn’t seen that move before,” Mokuba mentioned after Seto took his knight a few moves in.

“Yes. There’s this... individual.” Seto didn’t like talking about high school- he didn’t have friends exactly since friends were for people who weren’t Seto Kaiba. “He’s a rival of sorts. Stupidly good at chess. He was even crowned ‘King of Games’ at last year’s town fair,”

“All games?” Mokuba asked.

“Every game I throw at him, he seems to excel in. Chess, checkers, poker, monopoly, Risk, Catan...” Seto grumbled as he mulled over his next move for a minute, before making it. 

“So you either hate him or want to kiss him,” Mokuba remarked, taking Seto’s bishop. Seto hissed under his breath.

“I feel neither of those emotions-”

“Or both at once, that’s fun,” Mokuba sighed dreamily. “My big brother, all grown up,”

“It’s not- no. It’s nothing like that. He’s just a rival, that’s all,” Seto huffed. Mokuba was about to retort with something smarmy when his phone buzzed. 

“Oh excellent, he replied! Looks like there’s an open spot in dorm six,” Mokuba watched Seto move his rook and counterattacked before glancing back at his phone. “You’ll be safe there,”

“It’s not my safety I’m worried about,” Seto muttered, feeling the glacier coalesce again. “It’s yours,”

“Why?” Mokuba frowned. 

“If he can just kick me out for disagreeing with him then what will he do to you-”

“Don’t worry about me,” Mokuba assured Seto, his voice pitched low. Not for the first time, Seto wondered if his father was watching them, even now. “I just do what he says and it’s fine. You’re not meant for that kind of a life though, so this is alright. Trust me,” 

Seto didn’t have anything to say to that. It wasn’t that he mistrusted Mokuba, he simply would be a lot happier if his old man was dead, Seto was running KaibaCorp, and Mokuba was free. 

An hour of comfortable chess play later and Seto gathered his things, heading out into the thick twilight air. Mokuba followed, helping Seto load things into one of the company vehicles, driven by a faceless man in a black suit. 

“Before you argue, I’m coming with,” Mokuba announced. At first Seto thought he was talking to him, but re realized Mokuba was talking to the suit, who crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Mr. Kaiba did not forbid me from helping Seto,” 

“He didn’t say you could leave the property,” the suit argued.

“He didn’t say I couldn’t,” Mokuba replied, his voice seeming to gain volume even though Seto knew he wasn’t raising his voice. If Mokuba raised his voice, people knew it. “I have to introduce Seto to my business partner,”

“If it’s like that, then I suppose,” the suit muttered, getting back into the vehicle. Seto hid his smirk as he slipped into the back seat with Mokuba. 

This smile faded into his usual stoic gaze as they pulled up to the sixth dorm house on a boringly constructed block that reminded Seto more of an institution than a place to live. The fact that the houses had porches created an eerie juxtaposition Seto did not like. He and Mokuba walked up to the front door and Seto knocked politely. A green-eyed man with wild black hair and an obnoxious amount of eyeliner answered the door with a grin on his face Seto did not like. 

“Ah, Mr. Kaiba!” he greeted, making it somewhat unsure which one of them he was talking to. Being addressed by what Gozaburo usually went by was a weird feeling. “Welcome to my humble house,” 

“Thank you,” Mokuba stepped in smoothly. Seto inclined his head to show that he agreed and the man stepped aside, sweeping his arm to welcome them in. As Seto stepped in he heard an unfortunately familiar voice yell-

“Oh you gotta be kidding me!”

Seto glanced up at the scowling face of the one and only Katsuya Jounouchi, possibly the most irritating person in all of Domino City. Seto stared him down impassively. 

“Can I switch rooms with Yugi?” Jounouchi demanded.

“No,” their helpful host replied simply, shutting the door behind Mokuba. “The room assignments stay,”

“Why?” Jounouchi demanded.

“Because your suffering amuses me. Be nice to your roommate,” the man turned to Seto and smiled a smile that had too many teeth. “You may call me Ryuuji, if you wish.” he then turned to Mokuba, the toothy smile still in place. “Consider our debt paid,” 

“It will be paid if Seto makes it through the semester in one piece,” Mokuba retorted.

“Oh, of course,” Ryuuji nodded.

“Roommate?” Seto asked, glancing at Jounouchi for a moment.

“Yeah,” Jounouchi spat out.

“Have some mercy Katsuya, the poor man got kicked out by his own-”

“I’d rather stay in a homeless shelter,” Seto spat out.

“Now that’s rude,” Ryuuji remarked, his smile dropping.

“Seto...” Mokuba sounded pained. “It’s just for a semester. I’ll work on Father,” 

Seto stared at Mokuba, his eyes narrowed. Mokuba went through all the trouble of arranging this, so Seto decided that ruining it would do bad things to Mokuba’s reputation. For Mokuba, he’d tolerate living with that obnoxious mutt.

“Fine.” he muttered. “Which room am I living in?” 

Jounouchi led Seto quickly to the room, not lingering after. Seto was fine with this. 

The less they interacted, the better.  
\---

The first thing Malik realized when he woke up was that he was standing. His feet ached like he had been standing for quite a while and his knees were stiff, as if he’d been locked in a single position for a long time. The inside of his teeth tasted like grime and his eyes felt like they’d been rolled in sand. Most importantly though, Malik had no idea where he was. Panic started to sweep his exhaustion-logged brain as he took further stock of himself. He could feel the holy blades he kept strapped on the insides of his wrists, hidden from view by his oversized trench coat, the row of wooden stakes sewn into the inside of that coat, something long and strange shaped tucked into the waistband of his jeans- Malik pulled that out and realized it was a hammer. Even in the dim light of the streetlamps Malik could see that the claw was tacky and bloodied. Nausea rolled in Malik’s stomach, not from the sight of blood but from the strong possibility that it wasn’t vampire blood that coated the iron. Malik felt an uncomfortable urge to lick it and find out, which would end poorly for him- ingesting vampire blood was a good way to get turned into one and that was the last thing Malik needed at the moment. At the moment-

“Malik? Is that you?” A familiar voice broke through Malik’s musings and he glanced up- his sister Isis stood in the doorway of the apartment building he’d been standing in front of, concern heavy on her face. 

“Hey,” he croaked out, waving weakly.

“Get in here,” Isis demanded, opening the door slightly more and letting the golden light of her apartment spill out into the darkness. Unsure as to what else to do, Malik walked into her apartment, wincing as his eyes adjusted to the light. 

He didn’t know much about the companion that used his body sometimes, but he knew that it didn’t like the light too much. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in the area?” Isis demanded as she steered Malik to the little kitchenette she had and made him sit down. Malik let himself be led, still dazed- what day was it even? Where was he? How could he ask these things without his sister freaking out? 

“It was, uh, spur of the moment,” Malik croaked out. He smelled something delicious on the air and the next thing he knew Isis was shoving a bowl of kushari in front of him. Without any prompting, Malik dug in. Couldn’t answer questions with his mouth full, after all. 

“Are those knives?” Isis demanded, pointing to the sheathed blades Malik kept on his wrists. Malik paused for a moment, swallowing.

“Yeah,” he replied simply.

“You’re... you’re still doing that vampire hunting business then?” Isis asked, disapproval in her voice.

“No, I like to walk around with knives strapped to my wrists. Makes me feel secure,” Malik replied sarcastically before digging into more kushari. That honestly wasn’t too far off from the truth, but Isis didn’t need to know that.

“Have you joined any of the guilds?” Isis asked. Malik snorted. “I’ll take that as a no. Why are you so... so-”

“Determined?” Malik offered.

“Obsessed,” Isis corrected.

“You weren’t there when those things killed Rishid,” Malik informed Isis, his throat getting tight. The memory of that night crawled across the back of his eyelids- his bastard father offering a son who he didn’t see as his son to a beast with fangs too big for its mouth-

“Malik,” Isis said severely. Malik looked down and realized he was gripping his spoon too tightly in trembling hands. “You’re still having flashbacks?”

“Mm,” Malik muttered, shoving more food in his mouth. If he was shaking, he needed more food.

“Have you been to a-”

“No,” Malik cut her off shortly, chewing around the sharp word. Isis sighed deeply.

“Okay then. What have you been doing?” she asked.

That was a great question. Malik thought it over as he chewed, savoring the different textures and flavors of the kushari- velvety lentils, sharp and tangy tomatoes, crispy fried onions, chewy pasta- before swallowing and sighing.

“I’ve been looking into fae magic,” he said. He paused and waited for Isis to berate him for it. Instead she watched him and sighed slowly, rubbing her temple. 

“Is it safe?” she asked finally.

“It’s effective. A ritual circle is drawn, usually in chalk, and the vampire is brought into the center of it. When it’s activated, the vampire turns to dust,” Malik explained, leaving out the times he’s woken up to find the circle drawn in blood. “Except...”

“Except what?” Isis asked.

“It failed,” he muttered. “One got away,”

“That’s bad,” Isis’s frown deepened. “It could come back for you-”

“I think I injured it. Him. He’s an old one. I’d been stalking him for a while. A thief,” Malik rubbed his forehead, mimicking what Isis was doing earlier. “As if being a bloodsucker wasn’t bad enough,”

“Judgement isn’t ours to pass,” Isis reminded him.

“Hmph,” Malik muttered, poking at the remnants of his bowl. Isis always gave him too much rice. 

“What’s your plan now?” Isis asked.

“I don’t know,” Malik admitted. “I’m concerned about this vampire who got away. I need to find a way to refine my ritual,”

“Let me help you. I have connections at the local library,” Isis said. “You can stay here, just be careful with those knives,”

“Yes Isis,” Malik rolled his eyes and stood to go wash his bowl. He didn’t like how the shadows warbled around him, like serpents winding excitedly around prey. Malik narrowed his eyes at the shadows and they settled down a bit. Satisfied, Malik turned on the sink and washed his bowl slowly and methodically, like washing blood off of his hands.

“Don’t hurt Isis,” he whispered softly, hoping the sound of the water running would keep Isis from hearing. As he turned the water off, Malik could hear something laughing just behind his ears, a sharp and jarring sound. And thus, he heard the response.

No promises.

\---

10 deaths in as many days.

Atem picked up the black king that sat on the chessboard in front of him, twirling it along long fingers. 

If he was talking to a fae, they would argue that vampires are already dead, so ten of them vanishing off of the face of the earth didn’t count as ten deaths. But Atem was connected to all of them, as he was connected to every vampire in the city that served him, and he felt it when their essence just... vanished. It was quite disturbing. Unfortunately with being the Pharaoh he couldn’t show how much it worried him, so instead he sat in the illustrious Domino City Public Library, tucked into a corner where shadow covered most of his form, planning what to do next. 

The library was blissfully quiet, with only the receptionist at the front desk, one of his, and a sleepy looking student pouring over piles of books. It was early in the semester, so the library was blissfully quiet. The library was a sacred place. Even during the rush of finals when the library filled with anxious students working on research papers and group projects, there was a stillness that permeated into the very foundation of the building itself. This was Atem’s doing, and he was quite proud of it. 

Looking again, he noticed the sleepy student eyeing him. On second glance the student looked a lot like Atem- spiky black hair tinged with red, messy blond bangs that framed his face. This was where the similarities ended though, this student was chubby faced and short, while Atem was Definitely Not. He raised an eyebrow at the student, a challenge. Not many people challenged him and he fully expected the student to look away quickly.

He didn’t.

He picked up his books methodically and walked over to Atem’s table, smothering a yawn with his free hand.

“Do you play?” he asked.

“Of course,” Atem replied smoothly, glancing at the chess board.

“May I play with you? It’s been a while since I’ve had a good chess match,” the student asked.

“What makes you think I’m a source for a good chess match?” Atem asked, figuring he could take this kid out in ten moves maximum. The student smiled sleepily, setting his books down on the table adjacent to the chess board. 

“Got a vibe from you,” he said, sitting down. “What’s your name? Mine is Yugi,” 

“Atem,” Atem introduced, resigning himself to playing with this human. He was cute, which made it moderately worthwhile. Yugi made his first move, something bland and unassuming that Atem chalked up to the student being obviously half asleep. As the game progressed though, Yugi woke up more and his moves became increasingly... interesting. Atem realized he’d fallen into a trap two moves before Yugi could execute it and hastily retreated, glancing up at Yugi who was now watching the board with an intense kind of excitement. “You seem to be more awake now,”

“This is more interesting,” Yugi explained. “You’re really good,” 

“Thank you,” Atem inclined his head gracefully. Yugi had him on the ropes so to speak, and Atem was definitely not used to it. “What are you studying?”

“Trying to distract me? Clever move,” Yugi actually glanced up at Atem and grinned, a sharper look on such a soft face with pretty amethyst eyes that glittered in amusement. Oh dear, this one was trouble. “Ancient ritual summoning,”

“From what area?” Atem wondered, moving a pawn to try and draw Yugi into a trap of his own.

“Egypt,” Yugi replied. Upon closer examination Atem realized Yugi had one of the older copies of Mages of the Red Sea, a book he had helped edit back in the day. “I wanted to expand my horizons. Usually I’m in the Mediterranian area,” 

“You know that stuff is real, right,” Atem remarked mysteriously. 

“Oh absolutely. My roommate practices,” Yugi replied, not missing a beat. He moved his knight around Atem’s trap. That was not how he was supposed to respond, and it threw Atem for a moment. 

“Ah,” he finally said eloquently. He had to take an extra minute to plan out his next move on the chess board as his head swam with the implications. “New to the area?”

“Yeah,” Yugi moved his queen in a sudden movement. “Check,” 

Atem pursed his lips. Yugi had him boxed in and he was equal parts amused and annoyed by it. It was on his face too, he could tell by the mischievous grin on Yugi’s face. No matter where he moved his king, he’d lose. 

Atem exhaled slowly through his nose, more out of a habit than necessity, and moved his king. Yugi moved his adjacent rook to take his king and beamed up at Atem.

“Good game!” he chirped.

“Hm,” Atem nodded, methodically setting the pieces back in their places and facing Yugi again, a serious expression on his face. Now that he knew what Yugi could do, he wasn’t going to hold back.

“Another game, huh? You remind me a lot of a guy I played against in high school,” Yugi commented, making his first move.

“Is that so?” Atem remarked, moving a knight. 

“Yeah, he’s just as intense. Took it personally when I was crowned King of Games,” Yugi commented, moving a pawn. 

“King of Games?” Atem chuckled, pleased at the pink that grew on Yugi’s cheeks.

“Uh, yeah. Not that I was trying to brag or anything,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. The motion drew Atem’s eyes to the leather choker around Yugi’s neck. Pity, he smelled good. 

Of course, there were ways around that. 

“So, if I defeat you does that make me the new King of Games?” Atem purred, genuinely curious but also enjoying the pretty shade of red Yugi’s face was turning at his tone. 

“That’s a big if there mister,” Yugi retorted, focusing on the board. That was a shame, it meant those pretty eyes were directed away from Atem. He felt a stab of disappointment at that, warring with the warm glow of amusement at the tone in which Yugi addressed him. If this mortal knew he was addressing the Pharaoh of Domino City, would he be so flippant? 

Atem made his moves quietly, his shadows prodding at Yugi’s aura. Yugi didn’t seem to notice, which was interesting since most humans felt an unnatural chill when Atem prodded at them. Yugi’s aura was a bright one, a warm and steady glow like sunlight on a lazy afternoon. Atem usually wasn’t a fan of sunlight, but the warming and soothing aspect of it was something from his human life he missed. 

He’d make a nice meal.

It wasn’t hard- Atem rumbled out Yugi’s name and he looked up, catching Atem’s eye. In spite of his unusual aura Yugi had no mental barriers, so it was stunningly easy to wrap him in his thrall. Yugi’s face relaxed immediately, his pupils widening and swallowing up that pretty purple color with a hungry, gaping void. Yugi was about to move his rook but his fingers stopped, brushing the top of the piece and retreating to his choker where he ever so slowly started working the buckle open, not breaking eye contact with Atem. They weren’t going to finish the game and that was fine. Atem could feel his fangs elongating in anticipation-

“Yugi,” a voice called out. Yugi couldn’t hear him, Atem made sure of it. “Yugi!” the voice repeated, more force and power behind it. It broke the thrall Atem had over Yugi like someone shredding a shroud of silk. Atem narrowed his eyes and glanced behind his prey to see-

“Bakura!” he snarled. He’d recognize that mop of silver hair anywhere. How dare the dirty thief steal his meal-

“That’s my name,” the man remarked and Atem realized that no, that wasn’t the bastard thief’s voice. It was softer, although at the moment he could hear a cold steel of rage and indignation in it. “How did you know it?”

“Oh hi Ryou! I got those books you were looking for!” Yugi turned and patted the stack of books next to the chess board, shaking his head a bit. He then paused and glanced back at Atem. “Did you know him? He’s my roommate,” 

“You look like someone I know,” Atem recovered smoothly, still irritated that his meal was interrupted. “How unlucky,” 

“Huh,” Bakura- no, Ryou- frowned and picked up the stack of books Yugi had been pouring over, a stony look on his face. If Yugi’s aura was warm and enveloping, this Ryou fellow’s aura was cool and glass-like. “Well I’d appreciate it if you didn’t eat my friend thank you very much. C’mon Yugi, let’s go,” 

“Uh, okay,” Yugi stood and his choker fell from his neck, mostly undone. Yugi bent over to pick it up quickly before Atem could reasonably stop him, and gave the pharaoh a weak smile. “Thanks for the game,” 

“Come on,” Ryou shifted the books so he had a free hand and tugged on Yugi’s arm and Yugi’s aura flared for a moment before seeming to solidify into a barrier. Yugi glanced back at Atem one last time before he was ferried out of the library. 

Those eyes still held Atem’s attention.  
\---

“What were you thinking?” Ryou hissed at his friend. “C’mon, let’s get you home,” 

“I was just playing a game...” Yugi murmured, still sounding dazed. He kept glancing back at the library, like he wanted to go back. Ryou narrowed his eyes and pulled Yugi along. As much as he didn’t like it, he could probably talk to Ryuuji about making sure Yugi didn’t leave their dorm until the thrall wore off. Although given how powerful that vampire was...

Honestly, Ryou had never met a vampire that powerful.

He’d run into a few- England had a thriving vampire community due to its climate- and none of the encounters were fun. They mostly hung out at bars, taking down overly inebriated people who would either blame the headache the next morning on their liquor intake or just not wake up at all. The thought of another creature controlling him made Ryou’s stomach roll for reasons he couldn’t quite explain though, and he felt it vicariously through Yugi. 

They made it back to their dorm and into the room they shared, Ryou pointedly ignoring Ryuuji’s call from the living room (“Now what have my cute ducklings gotten into?”) before sitting Yugi down on his bed. He stashed the books on rituals and dug through the box he kept under his bed, pulling out a clear and round crystal orb.

“Yugi. Roll this between your palms,” Ryou intoned, handing the orb over. Yugi took it delicately and did as Ryou asked. Ryou watched as the clear crystal filled with dark red smoke, clouding over completely.

“What is this doing?” Yugi asked. He always wanted to know the purpose behind things, the mechanics by which things worked. 

“It’s drawing impure energy out of you, pulling out any remnants of the thrall you were under,” Ryou explained softly, not liking how dark the crystal was turning. Now it was so red that it almost looked black and-

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crack. Yugi paused his rolling motion and stared at the orb in his hand, now cracked in two. Something dark oozed out of its center. Ryou grabbed a paper tissue and snatched the orb out of Yugi’s hands before the liquid could touch him and placed it on the windowsill. 

“That’s not supposed to happen, right?” Yugi said after a long pause.

“No,” Ryou shook his head.  
\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> -Seto is my favorite character to write in this  
> -Kushari is a dish I can get behind- carbs on top of carbs but make it spicy  
> -I actually know little about chess, I'm sorry y'all. I'm just here for boys kissing  
> -Malik doesn't have hypnosis in this fic but thinks it would be really handy


	3. But You Warmed Me To My Core and You Left Me Wanting More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a last meal, cream of wheat with honey isn't too bad. Honda learns some things, Mai bites off more than she can chew and Ryou has an interesting encounter.

“Oh my back’s up against the wall I feel guilty, I feel guilty  
And you want nothing in return, I feel guilty, I feel guilty  
And now it follows me every day...”

-Bastille, An Act of Kindness

After years of practice, Jounouchi rolled out of bed at five thirty in the morning, carefully padding around his grumpy roommate to the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

He did this on autopilot mostly, his body naturally slinking down the hall and puttering around the kitchen. As the days slipped into autumn the sun rose later and later each morning, which meant that soon he would be making breakfast in the dark. Jounouchi yawned at that as he dug out a box of creamed wheat. He read the previous night that the weather was going to be nippy and who didn’t like hot cereal in the morning?

Seto fucking Kaiba, probably. Jounouchi grumbled under his breath as he salted the requisite amount of water and set it on the stovetop to boil. The man was utterly insufferable, refusing to eat the food that Jounouchi made for him. He’d cook for himself, but wouldn’t accept food made for him. Rich kid like him should be used to other people making food for him, so why wouldn’t he take Jounouchi’s?

Jounouchi pushed those thoughts aside and focused on cooking. He’d been having a lot of Thoughts about Seto Fucking Kaiba lately, especially since he was his roommate, and none of these Thoughts were pleasant ones. So he did what he was used to- hunkered down, did his best not to rise to Kaiba’s taunts and just focus on his studies. Everybody in his family (except for Shizuka) assumed Jounouchi was going to drop out, to become a gambling alcoholic like his father. That was fine, in the end. Jounouchi Katsuya performed best when he had some motherfuckers to prove wrong. 

Someone entered the kitchen. Jounouchi didn’t look up because he was whisking in cereal and really didn’t feel like scorching it or letting anything clump. He heard the sounds of someone operating the coffee maker and mentally shrugged. That was fair. Jounouchi figured it was Ryuuji, who woke at strange hours of the day and if Jounouchi didn’t know better, didn’t actually sleep. Dude was a weird one, for sure. 

“‘Scuze me Mr. Ryuuji,” Jounouchi mumbled sleepily as he moved across the kitchen into the other person’s space to grab the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the porridge.

“Hn,” the other person grunted and Jounouchi realized with a start that it wasn’t Ryuuji, it was Kaiba. He looked tired as hell, nursing a black mug of coffee as he leaned against the counter, sniffing the air. “Is that creamed wheat?”

“Yeah,” Jounouchi replied, more startled by Kaiba’s presence in (his) kitchen than upset, and grabbed the seasonings he was looking for. “...Want some?” he asked, figuring Kaiba would say no and pride aside, that just meant more for everyone else.

“Sure,” Kaiba replied. Jounouchi paused and blinked at him owlishly. “What?”

“You never accept my food,” he accused.

“I watched you make it. It’s really hard to mess up creamed wheat,” Kaiba replied flatly. Jounouchi felt his hackles rise at the accusation, hot anger bubbling up inside of him. Kaiba watched him, with analytical eyes, waiting. Jounouchi exhaled slowly.

“Fine. Hope it meets your standards,” he said as evenly as he could, pulling out two bowls and a ladle to spoon out the cereal. “This good?”

“That’s fine,” Kaiba took the bowl gingerly as Jounouchi handed it to him and walked over to the creamed wheat accoutrements. “Do we have honey?”

“Top shelf on top of the fridge,” Jounouchi replied, gesturing with his chin. He was more of a brown sugar sort of man, but could respect the classics. He watched Kaiba out of the corner of his eye, amused by the quirk of Kaiba’s brow at the obnoxious amount of different honeys Mr. Ryuuji kept. “I recommend the clover honey. First jar to your right,” 

“Chamomile infused honey?” Kaiba questioned.

“Good in sleepy time tea,” Jounouchi replied. “Kinda grassy for me though, never liked it.” he delicately sprinkled cinnamon on his own bowl of cereal, following a healthy pat of butter and a slightly more generous sprinkle of nutmeg. 

“Hm,” Kaiba replied, gently closing the cabinet and grabbing a clean spoon to drizzle honey into his cereal. Working like a man on a mission, he moved around Jounouchi to put butter in his cereal and after a moment’s thought, some cinnamon. Jounouchi nodded in approval, grabbed his favorite mug (a slightly chipped affair with unevenly painted golden retrievers on it) and filled it with hot water for tea. “Nice mug,” 

“Thanks. My sister made it,” Jounouchi replied, purposefully ignoring the sarcastic sneer in Kaiba’s voice. He was proud of anything his sister made, and had been so touched by the gift so many years ago that he didn’t correct Shizuka that his favorite dogs were yellow labs, not golden retrievers. Either way, dogs were dogs and dogs were good. 

The two of them fell into an easy silence as they ate their breakfast in the wee hours of the morning. Jounouchi wanted to bombard Kaiba with questions- why was he up so early, did he like the cereal, why did his dad kick him out of the house- but didn’t want to ruin the soft and shaky peace that grew between them. So Jounouchi kept quiet, steeped his tea (this morning it was an orange-forward Earl Grey) and ate his cereal. Kaiba ate quickly and business-like, hurrying up as he heard people wake up and rinsing out his bowl briskly before stalking out of the kitchen. He paused in the doorway for half a second.

“Thanks for the food,” he muttered under his breath before hurrying off. The expression of thanks shocked Jounouchi more than anything else and he had to unstick his brain to put away the honey before Mr. Ryuuji got crabby about it. That guy sure liked his honey. 

Jounouchi slogged through his classes, waiting for the caffeine from his tea to hit him. At least it was Friday, and Jounouchi had the weekend to get caught up on schoolwork. He’d probably even head to the library so he could avoid his crabby roommate. Well, maybe not too crabby. Catlike, perhaps. 

“Hey Jou!” Honda’s cheery voice broke through Jounouchi’s inner thoughts. “Don’t think too hard, you’ll break your brain,”

“Fuck off,” Jounouchi replied good naturedly, bodychecking his favorite meathead and making him stumble. Honda rammed right back into Jounouchi and the two of them laughed. 

“Dude, seriously. When was the last time you took a breather?” Honda asked.

“I dunno,” Jounouchi shrugged. “I’ll take a break between semesters I guess-”

“You’re gonna burn out man,” Honda interrupted. Jounouchi glared. “Dude, I’m not doubting your passion or anything like that. I just noticed that you’ve been working yourself really hard these past few weeks at school and think maybe you deserve a break,”

“Okay. What did you have in mind?” Jounouchi asked suspiciously. If it involved drinking, Jounouchi wasn’t interested. He’d seen what alcohol did to his family and wanted no part of it. 

“Oh you know, just some clubbing,” Honda grinned. “Pick up some cute girls, that kind of thing,”

“No drinking,” Jounouchi said firmly.

“Sure, sure,” Honda nodded. “Don’t need booze to have fun anyways,” 

“Right. Can you afford to get us in? I’m on a fixed income,” Jounouchi pointed out. Poor college student on a scholarship after all. 

“Oh yeah, I’ve got plenty,” Honda assured Jounouchi. “Though I gotta do something work related before we can really party, if that’s okay with you,” Jounouchi didn’t doubt this- Honda usually had some extra pocket change on hand and never really clarified how he got it. The vague way Honda would say ‘here and there’ made Jounouchi wonder if Honda was involved in gang activity. If he was, Jounouchi figured he was better off not knowing. Although if Honda ever got in over his head, it was an unspoken agreement that Jounouchi would bail his ass out. While Jounouchi usually used his fists for making bread, he could also use them to smash heads in. 

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just as long as it doesn’t take too long, you know how weird Mr. Ryuuji is about the curfew,” Jounouchi pointed out.

“Believe me, I know how weird he is. He’s my roommate, remember?” Honda pointed out, glancing to the side quickly.

“Awwww do you got a crush?” Jounouchi asked teasingly.

“No way!” Honda was now pink faced. “I like chicks,”

“You can like both you know,” Jounouchi pointed out, a stickler for the facts. 

“Right, right,” Honda agreed placatingly. “So, pick you up after class?”

“Yeah sure, I’ve got class until 6,” Jounouchi warned Honda.

“Sounds good. Meet you back at the house,” Honda nodded. Jounouchi grinned, going to his next class with a renewed sense of energy. Looks like his tea finally kicked in. 

\---  
Honda was having a good day.

Classes were simple- the hardest part of the criminal justice program at Domino University was the memorization, and Honda had a good brain for memorizing things. Memorizing policies, memorizing procedures, memorizing information- all of it was necessary, so Honda could do it. 

After classes, he changed into some nicer clothes and thanked any deity listening that Ryuuji wasn’t around when Honda did so. To say the man was unnerving was like saying winter was a little chilly. Honda had dealt with vampires since he was 14, he knew what they were like, how they behaved, how they worked. He knew the rules. Ryuuj though? All Honda knew was that Ryuuji wasn’t human, and that Ryuuji was unnecessarily attractive, and that Ryuuji knew way too much for Honda’s liking. So avoiding a run-in with him? Excellent. 

Habitually, Honda glanced into the cracked door to Yugi and Ryou’s room and saw them doing something with cards. It made the hairs on the back of Honda’s neck stand up, so he didn’t bother them and moved on to Jou and Kaiba’s room. His royal crankiness was laying on his mattress with a book in his hand, focusing very hard on reading while Jou rummaged through his drawers for a good shirt. He eventually settled for something plain and dark green, pulling it on and turning to Honda with a big grin.

“All ready?” Honda asked.

“Yeah!” Jou nodded.

“Cool, let’s go,” Honda cheered.

“If you wake me up coming home I’ll kill you both,” Kaiba announced from his bed.

“Yeah, whatever,” Jou groused back at him, although his grumbling lacked its usual bite. Honda raised an eyebrow at Jou who shrugged. “So where’s this place you gotta go first?” 

“Ah, just a little place on 5th Avenue,” Honda explained quickly as they walked outside the building. He hoped Jou wouldn’t remember-

“Wait a minute, ain’t that the place Mr. Ryuuji told us not to go?” Jou narrowed his eyes at Honda.

“It was a suggestion, not an order-”

“You said there were vampires there,” Jounouchi added. Dammit. 

“That was a joke, silly. And if you’re chicken, you can just stand outside,” Honda informed Jou. Jou shrugged. 

“I ain’ scared of no vampires,” he muttered. Honda sighed. He really should be, if he knew what actually went on in Domino City. Then again, it was Honda’s job to keep his friends safe, and he did that best through jokes and lies.

_(“That’s the difference between you and me,” Ryuuji had said, his voice barely above a whisper as those green eyes pierced him through, hypnotic in a way that had nothing to do with vampirism._

_“Oh?” Honda breathed out, aggression at his fingertips._

_“I don’t lie,”)_

“This is the place,” Honda stopped Jou, pointing to a dimly lit place called The Palace, themed in magenta and cyan with neon palm trees springing around the name of the club. Honda nodded to the bouncer who let him in and Honda spared one last glance at Jou, who gave him a big grin and settled on the other side of the door of the bouncer.

“Don’t take too long,” he told Honda.

“Right. Don’t go anywhere,” Honda replied, slipping into the crowded and dark inner chambers of The Palace. 

The club was filled with people already at such an early hour- the sun was barely set, but Honda was sure the fanged members of Domino City’s underbelly were out in force. The crowd swayed drunkenly either high on music, alcohol, or other substances. Honda cut his way through to the bar quickly, keeping an ear out for anything interesting.

“Hiroto, there you are,” Keith, the barkeep, leaned over the counter and grinned at Honda. The grin was full of sharp fangs and Honda groaned.

“Dude, put those things away,” he muttered.

“You were due with the faculty’s response yesterday,” Keith pointed out, straightening and cleaning out a glass. 

“Didn’t have class with him until today. You all know my schedule,” Honda replied.

“I’m sure you could have made something happen,” Keith pointed out. 

“Whatever. The response is yes to the proposal,” Honda recited what one of his teachers had told him in a hushed tone after class. Honestly, Honda didn’t know what it was all about and half of him was happy with that... the other half itched to know. 

Keith nodded, reached under the counter and pulled out an envelope full of money.

“There you go, Keep us updated- more punctually, if you don’t mind,” he informed Honda. Honda took the money and tucked it into his jacket, nodding. He proceeded to order a coke and wandered into the crowd to listen. He had some time, after all.

“I heard the Thief king is back in town,” 

“No way, that coward wouldn’t show his face around our Pharoah,”

“No man I saw him myself! At the library,”

“That was a human who just looks like him,” 

“He was arguing with the Pharaoh though,” 

“Maybe it was him,”

Honda wrinkled his nose. He knew enough about Thief King Bakura, someone who was rivals with the Pharaoh of Domino City and just as powerful, which was saying something. He summoned a picture in his mind of the man that he’d seen in wanted posters floating around and furrowed his brows. Now that he thought about it, that Ryou guy kinda looked like him. Though Ryou seemed like a shy guy, so it probably wasn’t him giving lip to the strongest vampire in the city.

“My sire went missing and I’m pretty sure she’s dead,”

“What makes you think that?”

“Can’t feel her anymore. I’m scared,”

“Don’t let it show, you know how the others are about showing weakness,”

“Look she was like, a century old. It takes a lot to kill a vamp that old,”

“I think there’s a new hunter in town,” 

“Son of a bitch really?”

“I haven’t heard anything about that, have you?”

“One of the members of the council went missing. I heard the Pharaoh is looking into it personally,” 

Vampire hunters, huh? Honda supposed they existed. It made more sense to work with them than against them, but then again, Honda had never had one kill someone close to him. Some may call that a lack of empathy, but Honda thought of himself as more of a pragmatic kind of man. If you can’t beat them, join them.

Honda finished his coke, left a tip, and strolled out of the bar with enough gossip to tide him over for a bit. He glanced at the bouncer, and then realized with a drop of his heart, that Jou was gone.  
\---

Jounouchi shivered as she pressed him against the cold brick wall in an alleyway, mashing her mouth against his without much preamble. That was okay, Jounouchi was pretty sure his higher functions were shutting down with each sensation that made itself known to him- the press of her breasts against his chest, the way her arms bracketed him as she pinned him to the wall, the sweet mint taste of her tongue swiping against his. Jounouchi’s head felt fuzzy and strange- her eyes were so pretty and Jounouchi was always a sucker for pretty eyes- and he wondered if he’d somehow gotten drunk just by kissing her. 

“You’re thinking too much,” she purred into his ear, nipping at his earlobe in a way that made Jounouchi gasp. Her teeth felt sharp- did she break skin? That would be a pain to explain-

“I got a lot on my mind,” Jounouchi replied breathlessly.

“I can fix that,” she grinned, predatory almost, and moved in for another kiss. 

“What’s your name?” Jounouchi asked. She paused and frowned a little, before shrugging.

“Mai,” she said, before kissing him again. These kisses moved to the corner of his mouth, along his jawline. Jounouchi could taste his pulse in his mouth and whined, feeling Mai’s lips curl into a smile on his skin. “So eager...”

“Mm,” Jounouchi hummed, his hand fluttering about unsure where to go- would it be rude to touch her waist? She did have her mouth all over him-

Jounouchi saw something move in the periphery of his vision and frowned. It would be just his luck that Honda fuckin come in at this moment and interrupt him.

“Don’t worry about your friend, he’s a busy boy,” Mai assured Jounouchi, moving back to kiss his mouth. Jounouchi kissed her back, feeling a pleasant kind of fog roll over him. Nothing mattered, anyway, as long as he kept Mai close to him, kept her happy, kept her fed-

Jounouchi happened to open his eyes in time to see the clawed end of a hammer smash into Mai’s head. Blood exploded in Jounouchi’s face. He gagged as some got in his mouth and sluggishly turned to see a man with the wildest platinum blond hair he’d ever seen in the world standing over Mai as she staggered back, clutching her face. Half of it was caved in.

“Oh darn, I didn’t get the whole thing off. I guess I’ll have to make the next swing count,” the man drawled, his voice sounding distorted and wrong.

“What the fuck is wrong with you,” Mai snarled, her face slowly seeming to knit itself back together. “A hammer? Who the fuck goes hunting with a hammer?”

“Gets the job done, doesn’t it?” the Madman remarked, twirling the bloodied hammer lazily. He lunged for Mai, moving faster than Jounouchi had ever seen a human move.

“It’s not even blessed you asshole,” Mai snarled.

“Oh, blunt force trauma works just fine on your kind,” the Madman laughed, something high pitched and unnatural sounding that made Jounouchi’s nerves stretch taut under his skin. He wiped Mai’s blood off of his face and fumbled for his phone to call the police. What looked like the bouncer from the bar along with a few other muscular fellows flooded the alleyway and Jounouchi watched in dumb horror as this Madman guy just tore into them, shrieking laughter bouncing off the brick walls around him.

“Fuck,” Mai swore, staggering over to Jounouchi. Her face wasn’t fully healed, and her once pretty eyes were now black pools of emptiness. Jounouchi was too busy staring at them to notice her sink her fangs into his throat. 

\--  
Ryou remembered the door very well. It was in the attic of the home their parents owned, and Amane wanted to know what was on the other side of it. Logically speaking, Ryou knew the door didn’t go anywhere- it was a mistake made by the builders. He’d opened it himself when he was little and terrified, trembling like a rabbit as he turned the knob and sighing with relief when he simply saw the wooden siding of their house on the other side.

But when Amane opened the door the darkness on the other side swallowed her up and Ryou had to go in to get her out, he was the big brother and that’s what big brothers did.

He didn’t know he’d be running for so, so long. He didn’t know that by the time he staggered out of the doorway, his feet bloodied and his hair now the color of the full moon in the dark sky, he’d be empty handed. 

Ryou’s parents didn’t understand. They thought Amane was an imaginary friend. The world Ryou walked back into was a world that never had his sister in it to begin with. But still, things remained- Ryou still had a family photograph of the four of them in it. A month and a day after that fated day Ryou opened the door, his mother took her own life. Around that time Ryou heard a voice whisper to him, tell him about things. It used Amane’s voice, but Ryou knew that it wasn’t actually her. 

The voice said some people couldn’t bear the changes. Ryou’s mother was fragile, she didn’t survive the separation. Bad luck, the voice said. 

Bad luck bad luck bad luck bad luck-

Ryou shot up in his bed, a faint sheen of sweat on his brow. He swallowed harshly and glanced over to make sure he hadn’t woken Yugi- good, he hadn’t. Ryou exhaled slowly, taking calming breaths. His limbs trembled and twitched, his nerves prickling along the underside of his skin as his heart pumped blood to his leg muscles. Logically, Ryou knew he was experiencing a flight or fight reaction and if he just got up and walked around a bit, he’d be fine. As silently as he could, Ryou slipped on some sneakers, popped the screen off of his window, and shimmied himself out into the cool autumn night air. He felt the whisper of Ryuuji’s wards pass across his skin and knew he’d have to give an explanation- ‘an interesting lie’- Ryou snorted at the concept. He knew better than to lie to the Fair Folk.

There was a park a few blocks away, and Ryou headed in that direction at a leisurely pace. He could feel something watching him but felt an eerie kind of calm about it with the full moon overhead and his ears itching to hear the soft whisper of Amane’s voice crooning into his ear. She liked to talk to Ryou about power, the power to choke and crush and destroy, to push and pull reality like the moon did the tides. 

Ryou stopped in front of a park bench and sat down on it delicately, his eyes roaming across the empty streets of Domino City in the moonlight. Something moved in the shadows, a pressure drawing closer like a hurricane. It stalled, and Ryou sighed.

“You don’t have to hide, you know,” he said bravely into the still night air. Silence hung, and for a delirious moment Ryou wondered if he’d miscalculated. Then-

“Who said I’m hiding?” a low voice erupted to Ryou’s left and he turned to see someone lanky and dark skinned with white hair the same color as Ryou’s messily draped across broad shoulders.

“Well, you seemed rather shy, so I thought I’d encourage you to come on out,” Ryou replied, as if handsome strangers appearing out of nowhere was a normal occurrence for him. (It wasn’t. In spite of everything Ryou had been through, this was new.)

“You think I’m shy?” the gentleman asked, turning to face Ryou and arching a brow. He had a dramatic scar across his face that drew Ryou’s eye more than his glimmering scarlet eyes. Ryou knew better to look at those anyways.

“Why else would you follow me for the past few days without introducing yourself?” Ryou retorted. The man chuckled, a harsh but still pleasant sound.

“That’s awfully perceptive of you,” he drawled. Ryou shrugged. “You know you could go missing in this town and no one would bat an eyelash,”

“Are you trying to threaten me?” Ryou asked politely.

“Are you threatened?” the man asked back. 

“No,” Ryou replied honestly. This man was a vampire- an old one- but Ryou knew that they fed off of fear just as much as they did off of blood and if this man wanted a meal, he’d have to work for it. “Although if you’re going to stay here and bother me, do you mind answering some questions?”

“Bold,” the man commented. Ryou shrugged. “You may ask. That doesn’t mean I’ll answer,”

“Are you Bakura?” Ryou asked. The man blinked in surprise.

“Where did you hear that name?” he asked.

“I was mistaken for you. On seeing you, I can see how that happened,” Ryou toyed with a strand of his hair for a moment, a small smile showing on his face. “The man whose meal I interrupted seemed very cross with you,” 

“Ah, you’re talking about that little stint with the Pharaoh,” Bakura’s face settled into a self-confident smile, reminding Ryou of a big cat. “I almost didn’t believe it when I heard it,” 

“A skeptical vampire, huh,” Ryou remarked. 

“You accept the existence of vampires so readily?” Bakura frowned.

“You almost sound disappointed. Shall I go through the ‘no, vampires can’t be real’ routine for you?” Ryou asked dryly, splaying a hand on his forehead to imitate a swooning Victorian era maiden. Bakura snorted, a sharp laugh escaping his lips. Ryou looked, he saw a flash of fang that made his spine shiver. “Your kind are relatively common where I’m from,”

“You haven’t met a vampire like me,” Bakura assured Ryou. Ryou rolled his eyes.

“That’s what they all say,” he informed Bakura. The vampire leaned closer, looming over Ryou menacingly.

“Oh, is it now? He asked, his voice silken. Ryou could listen to that all day and he knew damn well that wasn't the thrall talking as Bakura hadn’t even tried with him yet. This was a problem. “Nothing to say? No witty comebacks?” he reached out for Ryou, who grabbed his hand in a quick motion.

“I don’t engage in battles of wits with unarmed people,” Ryou told Bakura sweetly, his grip firm on the vampire’s wrist. Bakura’s face twisted into a scowl, which Ryou ignored. “What happened to you?”

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Bakura paused, tipping his head. “Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine,” 

“Shouldn’t it be show?” Ryou frowned. Bakura grinned sharply, his fangs on display.

“That works for me too,” he said before pushing himself into Ryou’s mind. Even on high alert as he was, Ryou’s mental shields shattered by the sheer weight of Bakura’s presence like the oppressive darkness of a night during a new moon. Something bubbled up from Ryou’s chest, and Amane’s voice spilled out of his mouth-

“Excuse you! Get out of here! I found him first!” 

-and Bakura recoiled like he’d been stung. Ryou stared at him, unable to move for several moments as reality seemed to shift around him, blurring and warping and showing Bakura’s aura- dark, yes, but from this perspective it was fainter than it should be- before snapping back into perfect clarity.

“What the fuck was that,” Bakura asked slowly, staring at Ryou in wonder. 

“Have you been siphoned recently? Your aura is weaker than it should be,” Ryou countered. Bakura narrowed his eyes and stood abruptly.

“What are you talking about?” Bakura frowned, rubbing his wrist where Ryou had grabbed him. 

“I don’t know how else to explain it- don’t get me wrong, you’re really strong and probably very old- but something drained you recently, right?” Ryou asked. Bakura was silent for a moment, thinking. 

“Don’t stay out too late,” he said.

“Are you changing the subject-” Ryou’s statement fell on silent air as Bakura disappeared. “Ugh. The vampires around these parts are rude,” he grumbled, standing and slinking back to his apartment. His throat still hurt, after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> \- When one doesn't have milk and honey to offer the Fair Folk, Cream of Wheat works too  
> -The line about dogs being good is my peak line in my career as a writer  
> -Honda gives off cop vibes. I can't explain it, so I just make his life miserable  
> -I'm gay for Mai  
> -I'm also gay for Bakura so  
> -What can I say I have good taste


	4. Where There's Hope I Bring Misfortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jounouchi awakens. Yugi and Ryou do some research. Isis makes a fatal error. Well, that is to say, an error that could be fatal for someone.

“Tell me how I’m evil   
Invisible people   
Continual affection for my action   
Vampire creature, first born seeker

Tell me I’m evil

Tell me I’m not the name of love,”

-Saturn, Sufjan Stevens

His phone’s obnoxiously cheery alarm was what woke Seto- he had to remember why on earth he had set an alarm for Saturdays- and he groggily rolled over to turn it off. What was odd about it was that he woke to the alarm, not to his roommate’s annoying habit of making everyone breakfast. Seto blinked across the room and saw the face down figure of one Jounouchi Kastuya on his bed and grumbled to himself, laying back down on the bed. That’s right, he and the other idiot were going out on the town. At least they didn’t wake him up coming back in, though judging by how Jounouchi wasn’t moving, it had been one hell of a night. Seto felt a weird sourness about that and pressed his face into his pillow. What did he care what the blond did? 

After a few minutes of his brain cycling through thoughts that annoyed him about hypotheticals he swore he didn’t care about, Seto pulled himself out of bed and as noisily as he could manage grabbed his clothes and clomped over to the bathroom to change. They had an unspoken rule to change in the bathroom. When Seto stepped out of the room he saw that Jounouchi hadn’t moved from his face down position. He eyed Jounouchi up, his eyes subconsciously drawn along the planes of Jounouchi’s body, focusing on his ass for a moment-

-And Seto very quickly turned away and left the room to get some food. He needed food. With Jounouchi obviously hung over, breakfast was an every man for himself affair, which suited Seto just fine. He made himself some toast and coffee, settling into a seat at the kitchen table closest to the wall. He saw Yugi sitting there too with a bowl of fruit loops and gave a quiet nod of greeting. Yugi returned it. The white haired kid who hung out with Yugi gave Seto an unnaturally cheerful ‘Good Morning!’ which Seto ignored, because there was nothing good about mornings. The other two men who stayed at the dorm and whose names Seto had no interest in learning sat on the other side of the kitchen table, dozing into their various sugary cereals. 

“So, Ryou Bakura,” Ryuuji seemed to appear out of nowhere, a dark smirk on his face. “Mind enlightening us why you broke curfew last night?”

The white haired kid- right, Ryou- blinked up at Ryuuji and smiled placidly.

“I took a walk,” he said.

“Did you meet anyone interesting on your walk?” Ryuuji asked.

“Yes,” Ryou replied simply, before digging into his cereal. 

“Well? I’m waiting for details,” Ryuuji huffed.

“Then ask more questions,” Ryou responded. Ryuuji narrowed his eyes.

“Was he handsome?” he asked.

“Yes,” Ryou said.

“Dangerous?” 

“That goes without saying,” 

“Did he hurt you?”

“Why, are you worried?” Ryou asked abruptly.

“Well it is my duty (and pleasure) to keep all my little chicks safe during the semester,” Ryuuji explained.

“I thought we were ducklings,” Yugi mumbled. 

“You can be a duckling if you like,” Ryuuji assured Yugi who nodded, seemingly placiated. That was just about enough ridiculousness for one morning, so Seto stood and washed his dishes, leaving that conversation. He’d have to ask Ryou how he snuck out later on, simply to sate his curiosity. 

Seto retreated into his room, slipped on his headphones and cranked up his music to avoid the soft mumbles and groans that came from Jounouchi as he worked on the various papers he had due in his classes. Some of them had not been assigned yet, but Seto read ahead in the syllabus and wanted to get a head start on them. When he’d get up to stretch his legs and walk around the house he caught sight of that Honda fool, circles under his eyes on his phone and looking frazzled. Seto made a point to not care and keep walking.

Seto worked into the afternoon without interruption, getting a good amount of work done. He was proud of himself- this meant he could spend Sunday visiting with Mokuba without worrying about being behind for the next week. He was just finishing up when he heard a knock at his bedroom door. Frowning, Seto set aside his laptop and opened the door.

“It can’t hurt to ask him,” Yugi was saying.

“It’s a waste of time,” Honda snapped back, harsher than usual if Yugi’s flinch was anything to tell. Ryou lingered behind Yugi, a look of concentration on his face.

“What do you all want?” Seto demanded, annoyed at the interruption.

“Have you seen Jou?” Yugi asked.

“Yeah. Lazy lump hasn’t left bed all day,” Seto stepped aside from the doorway to reveal said lazy lump, still passed out on his bed. In fact, he hadn’t moved. It was weird. 

“See? He’s okay,” Yugi told Honda, who rushed into the room. Seto grumbled under his breath- damn idiot thinks he can just rush into another person’s room- and watched Honda try and shake Jounouchi awake. Yugi walked in and Seto groaned- his room could only take so much idiocy. Ryou stepped into the room and stilled.

“Uh oh,” he said quietly.

“What is it?” Yugi asked.

“Honda, help me turn Jounouchi over,” Ryou rushed in, grabbing Jounouchi’s shoulders. Honda grabbed his feet and the two of them flipped Jounouchi over to reveal that his face and chest were completely covered in blood. 

“Oh shit,” Yugi whispered, giving Seto a shock as he was positive the legendary nerd King of Games couldn’t legally swear. 

“Kaiba, do you have a knife?” Ryou turned to Seto and asked the question with the most polite tone of voice possible. Seto’s brain blanked for a moment.

“Why do you need a knife?” he asked.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, so I’ll show you. Do you have one? Borrowing one from the kitchen means Mr. Ryuuji will hassle me,” Ryou explained. Seto stared at Ryou for a moment, trying to determine the most reasonable course of action. Fuck it, he decided, and reached under his really comfortable mattress (that somehow appeared while Mokuba was helping him move in) and procured a switchblade he kept for emergencies. He handed it wordlessly to Ryou, who opened it up with an uncomfortable amount of ease and glanced at the blade.

“Iron?” he asked.

“Yeah. My brother gave it to me, so try not to mess it up too much,” Seto warned Ryou.

“Ah, this will hurt more then,” Ryou sighed, walking over to Jounouchi and slicing his wrist open. Jounouchi inhaled roughly like someone who had been held underwater for too long, and Seto realized he hadn’t seen Jounouchi’s chest rise and fall all day.

Impossible, Seto reasoned, staring at Jounouchi’s bloodied body, staring at how his eyes were now open and wide and incredibly black. This was implying something his brain did not want to wrap itself around. And yet with the solid evidence in front of him....

“Easy now,” Ryou murmured, moving his bleeding wrist over Jounouchi’s mouth and sighing as Jounouchi’s mouth clamped onto the wound and drank.

“Ryou, you don’t have to do this,” Honda told Ryou. “I can get him blood-”

“My blood is a little more potent than the standard,” Ryou informed Honda. “He won’t have to take as much,” 

“But you don’t understand-”

“We have vampires back in England,” Ryou shook his head, a kind of tiredness in his voice like he’d had to explain this to someone before. 

“Yugi,” Seto spoke up, his mouth dry. “There are bandages in the bathroom. Get some,

“Sure,” Yugi pulled himself out of whatever trance he was in and went to get them. Seto stared at Jounouchi silently, analyzing the facts in front of him.

“He’s drinking your blood,” Seto began.

“Yep,” Ryou sounded a little strained, either from maintaining a position crouched over Jounouchi or from said blond literally sucking at a wound on Ryou’s wrist. “By the way you can have your knife back-”

“You’re holding onto that until you can get it cleaned,” Seto cut Ryou off. “I expect it back sanitized and in pristine condition,”

“Of course,” Ryou nodded.

“How did you know he was...” Seto gestured.

“His aura,” Ryou replied. Seto snorted. Ryou shrugged his free shoulder.

“You expect me to believe that?” Seto remarked dryly. 

“I don’t care if you do or not. It’s the facts,” Ryou smiled at Yugi, who came back with the bandages that were stocked in the bathroom all semester long. Ryuuji was thorough. 

Jounouchi sputtered and Ryou pulled his bloody wrist away, letting Yugi wipe the skin clean and bandage him. All eyes fell on Jounouchi as he coughed, licked his lips, and sat up slowly.

“Couldja get the curtain?” he mumbled, shading his eyes against the late afternoon sun. Honda turned and pulled the curtain down, darkening the room. “Thanks,” 

“Dude. What happened?” Honda demanded. “I leave you alone for like, what, five minutes and-”

“I don’t know,” Jounouchi cut Honda off. “I feel weird though. Head’s all fuzzy. Hope I’m not sick,”

“You were just drinking someone’s blood. I think you’re beyond the realm of being sick,” Seto snapped. Jounouchi turned to him and Seto realized with a sickening lurch of his stomach that his eyes were red now, like oxblood garnets.

“That’s what that was-” Jounouchi’s eyes unfocused and he scowled, swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress. “Oh shit,” 

“That’s putting it mildly,” Honda crossed his arms, frowning. “We need to find who did this to you!”

“And then what?” Yugi asked. Honda inhaled, looking ready to drop some stupid line out of an action movie when someone knocked delicately on the door.

“Not to interrupt a riveting conversation,” Ryuuji drawled from the other side of the door. “But there’s a vampire outside and I don’t feel like dealing with them. Mr. Bakura, if you don’t mind?”

“Why me?” Ryou demanded.

“You’re good at dealing with them. I tend to just kill them on spot,” Ryuuji replied cheerily. Jounouchi gulped, paling. “Present company excluded, of course,” 

Ryou sighed and stood. 

“Very well then.” he muttered, stepping out. 

“Be careful,” Yugi called out after Ryou’s retreating back. Seto offered no such words of encouragement. Ryou had his brother’s knife, after all, and he’d be fine. Probably. 

\---

Mai Kujaku woke before sunset, every nerve singing in a way that hadn’t happened in a few years. How many was it, since that Anzu girl? Five, six? She scowled and shook her head, rolling out of her bed and examining herself in the mirror. Contrary to popular belief, vampires had reflections just like any other thing did and hers showed no lasting damage from last night’s adventures. Considering how much blood she downed.... And somehow he turned. What a mess. 

Grumbling to herself, she dressed and grabbed her favorite parasol. She paused as the psychic link between her and Katsuya Jounouchi suddenly snapped into brilliant clarity. Grumbles turned into curses as she rushed outside of her apartment, barely putting her parasol up in time to meet the harsh late afternoon rays of the sun. 

Katsuya had just had his first meal. 

Mai knew nothing about him other than he was tall, blond, and looking cute standing outside The Palace like he belonged there. She figured he was from out of town, but as she drew closer to Domino University and its frankly weird dorm system, she realized just how out of town this Katsuya guy was. Mai stopped in front of dorm number 6 and wrinkled her nose- of course, this one had a fae running it. There were all kinds of wards around the building and the way that reality felt a little warped (the grass was too twisted, the weeds too bright and inviting) Mai figured there was a door to The Badlands in the building. Guessing by the anomalies in the ground, the door was in the basement. 

Mai’s opinion on fae was this- they were fucking weird and one shouldn’t deal with them. She could practically taste the hostility coming from this one as she approached the building and lifted her hand to knock on the door.The displeasure emanating from within was enough to make her pause, but not enough to make her run away. Mai had every right to be here after all. It was her fledgeling in there, drinking peoples’ blood. 

The door opened before she could knock. A young man with a soft and kind face and a mane of silver hair peeked out of the door. Mai didn’t need to smell his blood to know this kid was fae-touched, although she could tell he was bleeding sluggishly from his arm and it smelled very potent. 

“Can I help you?” he asked politely with the cutest British accent. Mai exhaled slowly out of her nose and stared this kid down. On second glance, she realized that this kid wasn’t just fae-touched- he was fae-grabbed. Fae-held even. Spending time in The Badlands did weird things to humans, made them change in ways that made no logical sense. As Mai tried to wash her influence over this young man she felt something angry stir, like something with too many arms was wrapped around his body and glaring at him, the possessive stare of a child who wouldn’t let go of a stuffed animal. 

Whoever this kid was he probably wasn’t fully human anymore, so it was best to treat him as if he was a fae. 

“There’s a fledgeling vampire in this building. I need to collect him before he does any more damage,” Mai explained curtly, going for the most direct approach. 

“Oh, you’re the one who turned Jounouchi?” the young man’s voice brightened. “Oh good, now we can find out what happened. Come on in,” he invited Mai like a proper gentleman, holding open the door for her. She entered, although she felt the wards on the building tug at her a bit. The fae of the house stood in the hallway, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and his uncomfortably green eyes leveled to her. 

“There will be no eating outside the kitchen,” he said severely. His gaze then shifted to Mai’s escort. “That goes for you too,” 

“It wasn’t eating, it was a blood ritual. He didn’t bite,” the young man explained sweetly. “Your rules say nothing about blood rituals,” 

“Very well,” the fae sighed, looking displeased. 

“I’m afraid I need to make a stop in the kitchen first,” the young man turned to Mai apologetically. “I just gave a lot of blood and feel a touch dizzy,” 

“Oh, right,” Mai nodded, unsure as to how to respond to this. “Wait, you gave your blood to him?”

“He wasn’t looking so well and I figured a little blood would perk Jounouchi right up. I’m Ryou, by the way,” he offered a hand to shake, which Mai took politely.

“Mai Kujaku,” she introduced as Ryou led her into the kitchen and rummaged around in one of the cabinets for some unnaturally yellow sports drink, which he downed like a champ. “He hasn’t attacked anyone?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Ryou replied once he’d finished his drink and thrown the bottle away. “Okay, right this way,” 

Ryou led Mai on a somewhat convoluted path to a dorm room, where he knocked before opening the door. Inside the room was Katsuya, looking dazed and upset while sitting on a twin sized bed. Standing at the head of the bed was Hiroto Honda, annoying informant and Anzu’s friend. On the bed across from Katsuya’s sat a lanky brunet who was definitely fae-touched - his eyes were too blue, like lapis lazuli. He looked exceptionally uncomfortable. A shorter kid with a ridiculous hairdo that vaguely reminded Mai of The Pharaoh’s stood closest to the door. 

“I thought you were supposed to deal with the vampire,” the brunet commented snidely. Oh Mai did not like him. 

“I did,” Ryou replied cheerily. “She’s the one who turned Jounouchi,”

“Really?” Honda asked, narrowing his eyes. 

“That’s what it looks like,” Mai walked over to Katsuya and looked him over critically. The night before he looked a lot older than he did now- standing outside of a bar does that to someone- and an uncomfortable knot formed in Mai’s stomach. “Hey Katsuya. How old are you?”

“Nineteen,” Katsuya replied almost defensively, seeming to puff up a little. Mai groaned softly. 

“You didn’t have a problem turning Anzu, and she was younger,” Honda remarked. Mai shot him a sharp look. “How is she, by the way?”

“Fine. Out in New York doing some dancing gig,” Mai responded, sitting down next to Katsuya. “And before you get too snippy with me, informant, remember that you came to me with her,”

“Yeah, but Jou’s different,” Honda argued. “He doesn’t know,”

“Neither did Anzu,” Mai pointed out.

“What-” the short kid interrupted but was shushed by Ryou. Smart kid. 

“Hang on, what does she mean ‘informant’?” Katsuya asked Honda sharply. 

“What I mean is he sells information and does little favors for the local vampire court,” Mai explained, watching the look on Katsuya’s face turn from confusion to understanding, and then sadness. She could feel the sadness and disappointment in her chest, which was super distracting. This kid was like a kicked puppy. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“I wanted to keep you safe,” Honda explained, looking distressed. Looks like Katsuya’s puppy dog eyes were effective on people who didn’t have a psychic connection with him. The cranky brunet snorted and Honda glared. “What,”

“If you really wanted to keep him safe, you would have explained the situation better,” he remarked icily.

“I didn’t ask your opinion Kaiba-”

“Well, you’re standing in my room, so I’m entitled to give it,” Kaiba responded. 

“Kaiba like KaibaCorp?” Mai asked. Kaiba glanced at her, unimpressed. 

“That goes without saying,” he said. Mai narrowed her eyes. Fucking twerp. 

“Right, so you’re a smartass, cool,” she tossed her hair a bit and glanced back at Katsuya, who was watching Kaiba with an intense expression- was he going to try and defend her? No, that didn’t feel right. Hm. 

“Back to the court thing- there’s a court of vampires?” the short kid asked.

“So it seems. We’ve already met the Pharaoh,” Ryou spoke up.

“We did? When?” the short kid gasped. 

“He tried to eat you,” Ryou explained cheerfully. 

“Wait so the Thief King isn’t here? That was you who sassed the Pharaoh?” Honda stared at Ryou, disbelief on his face. 

“You mean that Bakura fellow? Oh he’s in town,” Ryou shook his head, a slight flush creeping along his cheeks. Oh boy. 

“That was the guy you met last night? Ryou that’s dangerous!” the short kid exclaimed. “What if he ate you?”

“We don’t eat people, we drink their blood,” Mai pointed out, more to Katsuya than anyone else. Katsuya nodded solemnly. Mai handed him a thermos of blood she packed and he downed it greedily. 

“He didn’t,” Ryou replied with a simple shrug. “He’s interesting to talk to,”

“Oh I know what that’s code for Ryou,” the short kid seemed to puff up in size, crossing his arms and looking very disapprovingly at Ryou. He reminded Mai of a bird. “They call him the Thief King! That’s not the name of a nice guy!”

“He did threaten me a few times-” Ryou winced as he realized how that sounded- “but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” 

“He’s one of the oldest vampires out there,” Mai pointed out. “As old and powerful as the Pharaoh,”

“I figured, or this Pharaoh would have just killed him,” Ryou nodded. 

“Don’t change the subject! You’ve got a crush on a guy who can kill you!” the short kid exclaimed.

“I do not! I’m just,” Ryou paused. “Interested,” 

“I don’t get it,” the short kid huffed. 

“We’re off track,” Ryou sighed. “MIss Kujaku-”

“Call me Mai,” Mai interrupted. “Miss Kujaku makes me feel old,”

“Well, you are,” Honda muttered .

“Honda!” Katsuya groaned. “Please don’t antagonize the nice vampire lady,” 

“Just because she turned you doesn’t mean you have to be her attack dog,” Honda grumbled.

“I would even if she didn’t turn me. That’s no way to talk to a lady,” Katsuya retorted. 

“Anyways,” Mai cut the boys off, “I imagine you want to know what happened?”

“Yes please,” Ryou nodded.

“Very well then. So I was making out with this kid behind a bar when some asshole with a hammer came and smashed my head in,” Mai explained.

“Holy hammer?” Ryou asked.

“No! Not even! Just a normal hammer!” Mai shook her head. “The gall of some people, honestly.” she paused, giving the situation some thought. “Well, I’m not sure if the hammer was completely a normal hammer, but it wasn’t a holy one.” 

“Some of your blood must have gotten into Jou’s mouth,” Honda mused, glancing at Katsuya. “Dude. Of all the times to spit not swallow,”

“Fuck off!” Katsuya grumbled, flushing. His grumble didn’t have too much bite to it though, so Mai figured it was just regular teasing.

“What do you mean, not completely normal?” Ryou asked.

“It had a weird energy to it. And the guy wielding it wasn’t human either. I don’t know what he was but, ugh,” Mai shuddered. Katsuya did too.

“I remember... his laugh. It sounded all kinds of awful,” he mumbled, rubbing his head. “So he’s not like, a vampire or something?”

“No, if he was he wouldn’t have needed to use the hammer. He’d just rip me apart with his hands,” Mai shook her head. “Not fae either, same reason and the hammerhead was iron,”

“If the handle is wood they can handle it on a technicality,” Ryou remarked. “But you’re right, the ones I’ve met don’t use weapons. Too impersonal,” Kastuya shuddered. 

“Why the interest?” Mai asked.

“Well, Bakura’s aura was drained,” Ryou explained. “That’s strange, since vampires by nature are the ones doing the draining, not getting drained. A nonhuman entity of unknown origin running around attacking vampires could be an explanation,” 

The room fell silent for a moment. Then, Honda spoke up.

“Rumor has it that vampires are going missing,” he said quietly.

“Like some Van Hellsing kinda guy?” The short kid asked.

“No, vampire hunters have a very specific manner in which they take down vamps,” Honda shook his head. “This is just, vanishing. No corpses, just nothingness.” 

“I’ll do some research at the library when it opens tomorrow on this. Yugi said there are some older books on magic there I’ve been meaning to look at anyways,” Ryou said firmly. The short kid- Yugi- nodded.

“I’m coming too,” he announced. “Two eyes are better than one and someone has to stop you from getting into fights with and/or flirting with super powerful vampires,” Ryou reddened and smacked Yugi lightly on the arm. Mai decided she liked him. 

“I’ll do some snooping around too,” Honda added. “See if I can find more information on this guy,” 

“Why are you all doing this?” Mai asked, curious. “Meddling in this is dangerous,”

“Yeah, well... Jou’s our friend. If someone’s out there hurting vampires they could hurt Jou and that’s not acceptable,” Yugi explained simply. Honda and Ryou both nodded. Mai felt an overwhelming surge of emotion come from Katsuya, which could be confused with a surge of emotion of her own. Usually humans were quick to distance themselves from a newly turned vampire, for logical reasons. 

“You’re not...scared?” Katsuya asked quietly. 

“A little,” Yugi admitted, “but you’re still my friend. Just, if you need some blood, ask okay?”

“It’s actually my job to keep you fed,” Mai spoke up, patting Katsuya on the shoulder. “Teach you etiquette, that kind of thing,”

“Etiquette?” Katsuya whined. 

“Absolutely. Can’t have you ruining my reputation by being a real caveman about it, now can I?” Mai replied tartly. “Now I have a place for fledglings to stay- that’s you- where you can transition easier-”

“Is it close to campus?” Katsuya asked. Mai blinked.

“No, having you around so many humans is too dangerous,” she explained.

“No, I still gotta go to school. If I drop out I’ll lose my scholarship,” Katsuya shook his head. 

“Katsuya, you have more important things to worry about than scholarships,” Mai pointed out. “And you have all the time in the world to get a degree in whatever it is you’re into-”

“Culinary,” Katsuya muttered, staring up at her with determination and fire in his eyes. “I’m gonna get my degree,”

“I’m not doubting you, but you need-”

“Are you worried about me attacking people? Is that the problem?” Katsuya demanded.

“Yes,” Mai replied simply.

“Look. I work around food every day. I’ve done it since I was 16. Even when I was super hungry, I never ate the food around me because that food wasn’t meant for me. I know how to control myself,” Katsuya pointed out.

“Bloodlust isn’t like anything you’ve felt before,” Mai shook her head. “And if you attack your classmates that’s on me-”

“Then I just won’t attack my classmates. Simple as that,” Katsuya shrugged. “Besides, I gotta stay here for the rest of the semester. I’ve got an agreement with Mr. Ryuuji to cook for the people in this dorm for this semester,” 

“Mr. Ryuuji?” Mai frowned, glancing at Ryou. “Green eyes?”

“Yeah,” Ryou nodded. Mai groaned. 

“Great. I’m not getting involved in breaking that agreement,” she muttered. 

“Damn,” Kaiba muttered. “Bakura, I want my knife cleaned as soon as possible,” 

“Your name is Bakura?” Mai asked.

“Last name,” Ryou explained, walking off to what Mai had thought was a closet but must be the washroom.

“Don’t worry, I’m not interested in your blood,” Katsuya sneered. “I have taste,” 

“Hmph,” Kaiba muttered, going back to his laptop. Mai arched an eyebrow at him, and then turned back to Katsuya. 

“Why are you so determined to graduate right now?” she asked him.

“Everyone thinks I can’t do it,” Katsuya replied. “I mean, not you guys,” he gestured to Honda and Yugi, “but anyone else who knows me just assumes I can’t do it. That I”m a no good deadbeat like-” he cut himself off and sighed. “I’m gonna find a way to make it work, Mai. I don’t wanna get you in trouble but I ain’t giving up on my academic career just cuz my diet’s changed,” 

“That’s a gross oversimplification of what happened to you,” Mai sighed. Katsuya met her gaze stubbornly. “Ugh. Fine, you can keep going to Domino U, just don’t make me regret it,” 

“You won’t!” Katsuya beamed. Ryou walked back into the room and handed Kaiba a switchblade, which he took and set on his bedside table.

“Now that that’s done, get out of my room,” Kaiba announced sharply. “Some of us have work to do,” 

\---

Isis’ headache grew as she wandered the aisles of the Domino Public Library on a quiet Sunday morning. She’d asked around where the books she needed to look at were, and upon finding where they should be, she found empty shelves. Isis took a few calming breaths, closing her eyes. She could find them- they were restricted books that people couldn’t check out, so logically they had to be in the library somewhere. They had to be.

Over the past month Malik’s disappearances had grown more and more frequent. He tried to hide it at first, but eventually Isis figured out that Malik had no idea where he was going. It was as if he was possessed... and during the same time Isis’ dreams had gotten stranger, more twisted. Flashes of violent scenes involving her brother, too much blood spattering the ground, his clothes, his face stretched in a maniacal grin... Isis swallowed harshly as she walked through the quiet library, trying to still her heart. She loved her brother dearly- he was the only family she had left, after all. As the older sister, it was her job to protect him from whatever mess he’d gotten himself into. 

Something tugged at Isis’ subconscious in the way it often did when she was looking for something. Woman’s intuition, she called it, and rarely ignored it. Isis followed where the tug lead her and sure enough, came across nearly every accurate book on magic in the library, stacked on a table with two young men pouring over their contents and taking dedicated notes.

“This one’s no good. More talking about summoning than anything else,” the shorter one with frankly ridiculous hair said.

“Hm, put that in the second pile. It could be useful for secondary applications,” the white haired one replied.

“What do you mean- oh, hello,” the short one smiled brightly at Isis as he noticed her, standing half hidden by a bookshelf. 

“Hello,” Isis greeted solemnly. “I was wondering if you could spare some of those books?”

“Sure, we can share, right Ryou?” the short one asked.

“Mm, absolutely,” the one probably called Ryou nodded, twisting to get a good look at Isis. He glanced her over like she glanced over artifacts for the local museum, looking for something and apparently seeming pleased with what he found if the soft little smile he gave her was any indication. “What’s your name?”

“Isis Ishtar,” Isis introduced herself, pulling out the chair next to Ryou.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Ryou Bakura, and this is Yugi Mutou,” he introduced, scooting some of the books out of the way so Isis had some room. “Sorry for hogging all these books- any particular subject here you’re looking for? Yugi just grabbed every book on magic he could find,” 

“Hey, I have no idea what will be useful and what won’t,” Yugi defended himself, flushing a little. Judging by the smiles between the two, this kind of teasing was common. 

“Yes, specifically in siphoning rituals,” Isis explained. The teasing smiles froze in place and then dropped. 

“Huh, what a coincidence, that’s what we’re looking at too,” Yugi commented.

“Yeah,” Ryou turned to look at Isis, his chocolate eyes seeming to suck in all her attention. He wasn’t a vampire (Isis knew what they felt like) but the compulsion to tell everything was eerily strong. 

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do to me but please stop,” Isis told Ryou firmly. “I’ll tell you. I feel like I was brought here for a reason,” 

“Does that happen often?” Ryou asked.

“Yes. I have a kind of intuition, you could say,” Isis sighed. She didn’t like being so open with these men she just barely met, but she had a feeling on this one, especially the silver-haired young man who held her gaze so intensely. Perhaps he could help Malik. 

“Hm. Thought so,” Ryou nodded, relaxing. As Isis glanced at the notes in his hand she noticed a circle that looked very similar to the one Malik showed her, drawn in chalk on the ceiling of her living room in case anything came in after them. “Well?”

“My brother has been performing siphoning rituals,” Isis began. “Specifically on vampires. He uses that circle, but it’s different”

“Different how?” Ryou asked. 

“May I show you?” Isis asked.

“Sure,” Ryou handed her a pencil and she leaned over, making the necessary changes to the circle Ryou had drawn in his notebook. She didn’t like the sharp inhale Ryou made. Neither did Yugi.

“I don’t like the face you’re making Ryou,” Yugi said softly. “What’s it mean?”

“That’s not just a siphoning circle anymore,” Ryou muttered. “It’s a summoning circle too,”

“Both at once?” Isis asked.

“One stop shop,” Yugi muttered. “What’s it summon?”

“A demon?” Isis asked.

“What makes you think it’s infernal in nature?” Ryou asked.

“Well, my brother is missing time. He hides it, but not very well,” Isis explained. “I’m worried about him,” 

“Not all possessions are demonic in nature,” Ryou explained. “Some are by ghosts, spirits, fae...” 

“So this guy is siphoning energy from vampires, right?” Yugi asked.

“Yes. It kills them, except he missed one apparently?” Isis frowned, recalling her conversations with Malik. 

“Mhm. I’ve met him,” Ryou nodded.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Yugi muttered. Ryou shot him a look, and Yugi shrugged. “Anyways, where’s the energy going?”

“What do you mean?” Isis asked.

“If you’re siphoning something, like gasoline, it’s gotta go somewhere, right?” Yugi asked.

“It’s either going inside your brother’s body, which would warp him greatly, or going into an object. Or a combination of the two,” Ryou remarked. Isis made a face- she didn’t like the sounds of that. “Is there an item he carries around with him all the time?”

“His knives,” Isis remarked blandly, thinking. “Oh, and there’s a hammer he carries around too,”

“The hammer,” Yugi and Ryou whispered at the same time. 

“Mai mentioned her attacker using one,” Ryou added. “She’s a vampire,” 

“Oh,” Isis nodded, understanding. At least, somewhat. “If it’s going into an object does that mean he’s not being warped?”

“No, unfortunately,” Ryou shook his head gently. “The kind of siphoning he’s doing is really unnatural. Like normally siphoning is unnatural but siphoning vampires? That’s... it’s not good,”

“Can you get him to stop?” Isis asked seriously.

“Do you want me to try?” Ryou asked.

“Yes, absolutely,” Isis replied. “Whatever it takes. I want my little brother safe,” 

“Okay-”

“Ryou if he’s the same guy who smashed Mai’s head in (with a hammer) then this could be super dangerous,” Yugi cut Ryou off.

“I’ll do it. We should meet in a more public place though to hopefully mitigate overly violent acts,” Ryou suggested.

“Did you have a recommendation?” Isis asked.

“Uh, not really. I’m not from around here,” Ryou admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Isis thought for a moment.

“There’s a coffee shop on Broadway Avenue called The Winged Dragon,” she explained. “It’s a fantasy themed place but it has a nice vegetarian menu I can send my brother to. His name is Malik,” 

“Okay. When should I meet him?” Ryou asked. 

“Tomorrow perhaps?” Isis suggested. 

“Okay. I have classes until 6 pm, I can make it to The Winged Dragon after,” Ryou nodded.

“Date with a madman,” Yugi sighed.

“He’s not mad,” Isis defended her brother. “He’s just... lost. We lost our father and older brother to a vampire attack, you see, and he’s... angry,” 

“Revenge makes people do foolish things,” Ryou nodded. “I’ll do my best to help him,” 

“I meant no offense,” Yugi added. “I just worry about Ryou getting into dangerous situations,”

“Well, Ryou isn’t a vampire so he should be safe,” Isis pointed out. Ryou nodded. 

Satisfied with their plan of action, Isis remained around these two young men for a little while longer, listening to them discuss different purification circles that could help rid Malik of whatever was warping him. She felt more optimistic than she had before going to the library and even allowed herself to smile. 

Isis made it back to her apartment in the afternoon and her smile vanished as the scent of blood hit her nostrils like a thick and heavy wall. She swallowed back a gag and walked through the living room and into the bathroom where she saw her sweet little brother perched on the toilet, the bathtub filled with blood and gore, a hammer in one hand and a cheerful pink drink in his other hand. 

“W-wh-what is this?” Isis stammered.

“A smoothie,” Malik’s mouth replied, although the voice that came out was twisted and distorted. “You’re home early,” 

“I didn’t realize I was on a schedule,” Isis replied, her vision keeping on tugging to the gore in the bathtub- the more she looked at it, the more human it looked. The thing in Malik’s body laughed, something discordant that bounced off the walls of the bathroom, making it seem even smaller than it already was. “Is that a human?”

“If it was a vampire would you be fine with it?” the thing in Malik’s body asked. Isis squared her jaw, giving it a displeased look.

“I’m asking for terms of cleanup. If it’s a vampire I can simply wash the tub out with holy water and that will clean the mess,” she told it coldly. It laughed some more, standing and walking right up into Isis’ personal space. It brought the claw of it’s hammer up and tapped Isis’ chin with it. 

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” it crooned. “And don’t try to stop me either. Your brother keeps asking me to keep you alive, but I haven’t promised him anything,” it pressed the claw of its hammer more firmly against Isis’ chin, grinning savagely as Isis grit her teeth in response. 

“Speaking of which, may I speak to him?” she asked, her voice still steely cold. Like hell was she going to show fear to this thing.

“I suppose,” it drawled, pulling the hammer away from Isis’ face and drawing a line of purple-edged black across its handle. The line opened into a maw and seemed to inhale, sucking in all the blood and viscera in the bathroom into its inky depths before snapping shut. Her brother shuddered and braced himself on the bathroom counter, gasping for air. He turned and startled upon seeing Isis, his eyes wide and wild with fear. 

“Isis,” he mumbled, gripping the counter. “What...what did you see?”

“Plenty,” Isis told Malik firmly. She hated how his face fell and sighed, making her own face soften. “I got you a date tomorrow,” 

“Wait- what?” Malik sputtered. Isis figured she could have led up to that a little more, but she was more focused on other things. 

“Six o clock, at The Winged Dragon. Wear something nice, he’s cute. British I think,” Isis explained vaguely, wondering if she was dooming that poor kid to a bloody end by sending him to help her brother. 

It was too late to stop it now. The wheels of fate were already in motion. 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> -Jounouchi has a relatively fine butt  
> -I know canonically everyone has flat asses so this is an au where everyone has some kind of ass  
> -I'm taking artistic liberties  
> -Anzu is drowning in pussy in New York  
> -Isis is absolutely trying to get her little brother a cute boyfriend.   
> -Maybe it will distract him from killing vampires  
> -My sister requested I include the 'what do you have there? a smoothie' meme  
> -This is the second fic that is titled using the song Saturn by Sufjan Stevens  
> -Just listen to the whole album Planetarium, please
> 
> If you want to see me scream about my writing process come bother me at inuyoshie.tumblr.com! the tag 'inu writes' is where I put my screams.


	5. Shouldn't Let You Conquer Me Completely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yugi takes a stand. Ryou's expectations are subverted. Bakura makes some tea.

“Drink up sweet decadence  
I can’t say no to you  
And I’ve completely lost myself and I don’t mind  
I can’t say no to you,” 

-Evanescence, Good Enough

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Honda told Yugi seriously.

“Of course not,” Yugi assured him as they approached a looming building labeled The Palace in eye-numbing neon. “I am going inside with you though,”

“Yeah, of course,” Honda nodded. “I need you to explain the whole situation anyways- I’m no good at magic,” 

“I’m not either,” Yugi pointed out.

“Better than me, and Ryou’s busy,” Honda replied as they got into line. Being a Monday night, the line was short. 

“Back so soon?” the bouncer asked, his voice grating on Yugi’s ears.

“What can I say, I can’t stay away,” Honda grinned at the bouncer, flashing some kind of paper to him. When the bouncer’s eyes glanced to Yugi, Honda coughed. “He’s with me,” 

“Whatever,” the bouncer muttered, letting them in.

“Stay close to me,” Honda muttered as he led Yugi into the darkened bar. There were still a good amount of people there and Yugi was sure he’d get lost if he left Honda’s side. The bar, while dark and ominous, had lines of bright aqua and magenta lights lining the dance floor, as well as several tables where groups of people clustered, their conversations lost in the low thrum of music that pulsed in Yugi’s eardrums. Yugi glanced at Honda and realized he was gone.

Well shit. 

Unsure as to what else to do, Yugi wandered up to the bar and grabbed an open seat, figuring that Honda would find him easier if he was sitting at the bar than if he wandered around on the dance floor. He knew his hair was a beacon, especially if it was easier to see. In the meantime he listened...

“And then I told her it’s Louis Vuitton and it’s unisex,” a familiar voice echoed from across the bar, resonating in Yugi’s throat. Atem! Or the Pharaoh, or whatever. Yugi craned his neck to see if he could spot the man. If anyone needed to hear the information he and Ryou had uncovered, it was Atem. 

One moment, he was looking at the backs of people’s heads, trying to see where the enigmatic Pharaoh went. The next someone was tapping Yugi’s shoulder and when he turned, there sat Atem next to him, looking completely at home at the bar.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Atem remarked, swirling what Yugi hoped was wine in a long glass held in delicate fingers. 

“Really?” Yugi blinked, tipping his head. He wished there was a chess board between them, to give him something to focus on other than the cut of Atem’s jaw, the way his blond bangs framed his face, those gorgeous blood red eyes-

“This isn’t exactly the scene for a chess player,” Atem continued gracefully. 

“I guess not. Too noisy to have a good match,” Yugi agreed. Atem nodded. “I’m uh, here with a friend,” 

“A friend?” Atem now tipped his head, mirroring Yugi’s previous motion. He glanced around. “Where?”

“I uh, lost him,” Yugi admitted. Atem’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not, he’s not Ryou, don’t worry!”

“Well that’s a good thing,” Atem sighed. “I don’t believe my security could handle another feisty individual like that,”

“Usually he’s quite shy,” Yugi defended his friend. 

“I’m sure. So what brings you here?” Atem asked. “It’s a school night, after all,” 

Yugi took a deep breath. This was his chance.

“I have some information,” he began.

“Ah, that would be for Keith,” Atem gestured his head further down the bar. 

“It’s about the vampire disappearances,” Yugi added. Atem stilled for a moment. 

“How do you know about that?” he asked Yugi seriously, a sharp tone in his voice. Yugi swallowed harshly, wondering if he’d done something wrong. 

“A combination of detective skills, knowing an informant, and luck,” he replied honestly. Atem glanced around, and downed his glass in one smooth movement. Yugi watched his throat move for a fraction of a second too long before ripping his eyes away and looking neatly at his folded and sweaty fingers. “Am I in trouble?”

“Do you intend on sharing this information with me?” Atem asked.

“Yes,” Yugi replied.

“Then no, you are not in trouble. We should relocate somewhere more private though,” Atem mused. Yugi froze, unsure as to how to proceed. He wasn’t an idiot and knew full well that going into a private room with this very powerful and influential vampire while Honda didn’t know where he was was a bad idea. “You look concerned. I give you my word you will walk out of here unharmed,” 

Weirdly enough, that was enough to soothe most of Yugi’s nerves. Atem didn’t cheat at chess even when he was losing, so he was probably a man of his word. 

“Alright,” Yugi nodded. Atem stood and offered Yugi his arm, which he took delicately and let Atem lead him through the darkened bar. The crowd seemed to part around Atem as he moved through it with absolute grace that had Yugi scrambling to keep up. Yugi watched Atem approach a door with a guard in front of it, barely heard him murmur something to the man, and then followed Atem into the room. 

The room was small, with a glass chandelier hanging in the middle of it making it look smaller. A red velvet loveseat sat pushed up against a wall with a coordinating cocktail table in front of it and matching end tables on either side of the loveseat. A small bar sat in the corner, which Atem sauntered up to and pulled out a bottle of something so dark it looked black.

“Have a seat,” Atem offered. Yugi sat down delicately on the loveseat, impressed by its soft texture. He looked up when he heard the cork pop on the bottle.

“I don’t uh, drink. I’m only 19,” Yugi told Atem quickly. Atem blinked at him.

“How did you get in here?” he asked. “This is a bar,” 

“ I came in with my friend, Honda Hiroto? He’s apparently a regular here,” Yugi explained as Atem poured out a glass, grabbed a box, and walked over to the loveseat and sat down next to him. 

“Hm. I’ll have to have a word with the bouncer,” he murmured, setting down the glass of wine and opening the box to reveal a portable chess board, complete with wooden pieces. Yugi grinned.

“Still trying to take my title?” he asked. Atem gave him a sidelong glance that sent thrills along Yugi’s skin and smiled back, just a little bit of fang showing.

“Absolutely. Our last game was woefully interrupted,” he replied thoughtfully. 

In that moment, Yugi suddenly understood Ryou’s infatuation with the Thief King.

“Oh, um, yeah,” Yugi nodded, watching Atem set up the chess board on the table in front of them. It wasn’t as fancy as the one in the library, but it would work. Right! The library. “So about the disappearances-”

“Deaths,” Atem corrected, finishing setting up the board. “Your move,” 

“Yeah. Deaths,” Yugi nodded, looking seriously at Atem before moving one of his pawns. “They’re caused by a siphoning ritual,” 

“A siphoning ritual?” Atem repeated, moving one of his knights. 

“Yeah. Pulls all the energy out of vampires and turns them to dust,” Yugi explained, moving a piece to start building a trap. It’s never too early to build a trap, as his grandfather said. He thought he saw Atem shudder, but didn’t comment on it. He wasn’t here to make Atem feel bad. 

“How did you get this information?” Atem asked.

“Ryou had a conversation with someone who survived it,” Yugi replied.

“How could- oh. The Thief King,” Atem made a face as he moved one of his pieces. “I’ve felt his presence in my town. He is strong enough to survive such a ritual,” 

“I’m hearing a lot about him these days,” Yugi commented, moving a piece.

“Stay away from him, he’s dangerous,” Atem told Yugi, countering very quickly. Yugi frowned at the quick move- his strategy must have been more transparent than he thought. “ I know that is hypocritical of me to say as a vampire myself, but trust me, he is dangerous. He lacks honor,” 

“Hm,” Yugi mused, thinking for a moment before moving another piece in a different direction than he was going in earlier. It sounded like Atem and this Thief King had a history. Exes maybe? Or just rivals. “I just hope he leaves Ryou alone,” 

“Your friend Ryou, he’s fae-touched, yes?” Atem asked, making an aggressive move. Yugi chewed on the inside of his cheek.

“I don’t know what that means,” he admitted, countering.

“Someone who has an encounter with the fae,” Atem explained. “It marks them usually, warps them. You mentioned he practices magic?”

“Yeah. He did the majority of the research on the siphoning ritual,” Yugi admitted. “He’s special, and dear to me. Ryou always tells me there’s a price to be paid for power and I don’t know what price he paid, but I don’t like it. I’d rather be ordinary,”

“You? Ordinary?” Atem laughed, something rich and decadent flowing over Yugi’s skin like the finest silk. “I wouldn’t go so far as to call you ordinary,”

“You’re trying to distract me from our game,” Yugi accused, feeling his face flush.

“Trying? I thought I was succeeding,” Atem teased back. Yugi glared at the board, realizing how much of a pickle Atem had put him in. Time to get his queen involved. “Truly though. It is rare to find someone who can keep up with me on the chess board. Where did you learn?”

“My grandpa taught me everything he knows about games and game theory. I’ve done a lot of research about it on my own. It’s fascinating,” Yugi admitted, his suspicious tone melting away into a fonder one. It was hard to get mad when talking about games. Games were fun, after all. “How about you?”

“I picked it up here and there,” Atem replied vaguely, an amused look on his face as he continued to drive Yugi into a corner. Yugi realized he could have taken his king and hadn’t yet. He frowned- there was no way such a talented chess player would have missed that. “What’s wrong?”

“You could have taken me already,” Yugi pointed out with a pout. Atem raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Oh nothing. I’m glad you noticed,” Atem remarked, moving a piece. “Check,” 

Yugi moved his king with a huff as Atem with a toothy grin took his king in the next move. Yugi then realized what he’d said and his face flushed completely red. 

“Another game?” Atem asked, his smile sharper than the devil’s. 

“Sure,” Yugi agreed, trying to calm his blush. Pharaoh or not, Yugi was going to kick his vampire ass in chess if it killed him. 

The next game passed quietly, Yugi focusing completely not only on his own moves but Atem’s as well. He was starting to get an idea as to how Atem moved- not that such assumptions could be relied on with this only being their third game. Yugi had a feeling in their first game that Atem was holding back, and he no longer was. That was fine, that would make this win more enjoyable. 

Just as Yugi put Atem in check, someone knocked on the door to their room. Atem ignored it, moving his king instead as the knock continued. 

“Shouldn’t you-” Yugi asked and Atem sighed tersely. 

“They can wait until we’re done,” he muttered.

“Fine by me,” Yugi replied, taking Atem’s king. Atem huffed in annoyance and Yugi realised with a grin that such a regal man was a sore loser. Atem rose and walked over to the door, opening it with an aggressive ‘what’. 

“One of our informants is looking for the human you’ve taken into your rooms and is behaving belligerently-”

“And you interrupted my chess match for that?” Atem asked frostily. Yugi peered around Atem and spotted Honda behind the nervous looking guard, looking angry. Yugi waved. Honda facepalmed. “See? He is unharmed,”

“I know what these rooms are for,” Honda remarked softly but firmly. Yugi stood and walked to the door to assure Honda he was alright when Atem abruptly put an arm around Yugi’s shoulders and pulled him close.

“Then you know why interrupting me is the second worst idea you’ve had today,” Atem informed Honda, his voice delicately dangerous. Yugi shivered for a moment, not sure if it was from fear or anticipation. Atem’s touch was icy and made the hairs on the back of Yugi’s neck rise on end. “Regardless, Yugi will not be harmed and will arrive home safely, once we are done,” 

Honda wasn’t looking at Atem, he was looking at Yugi. Yugi gave Honda a thumbs up and Honda sighed, deflating.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Mind the curfew, or Ryuuji will be on your ass,” 

“Yes mom,” Yugi replied, hoping to lighten the mood. Honda didn’t give a response, which made Yugi worry. Atem nudged the door shut and wheeled Yugi back over to the loveseat, sighing. 

“Your friends are awfully protective of you,” he murmured, having yet to let go of Yugi.

“It’s probably because I look, well,” Yugi shrugged. Both he and his grandfather were what Honda charitably called vertically challenged, which made him a target for bullies. “I look small and defenseless,” 

“Hm,” Atem murmured, sitting down gracefully. Yugi reluctantly inched away from him to sit down. “Why are you getting yourself involved in our matters then?”

“Well, it’s my friend,” Yugi began. “Jou. He's come to think of it, he’s probably another reason Honda is so upset. They came by here on Friday night and Jou got turned into a vampire,” 

“Oh,” Atem replied, sounding surprised. “Who is his sire?”

“His sire?” Yugi blinked.

“The one who turned him,” Atem clarified.

“Oh! Miss Mai,” Yugi said.

“Ah, Mai. She’s a diligent sire,” Atem said assuringly. “She’ll take good care of your friend,”

“I’m sure, she seemed fairly nice. Kind of sassy, but Jou is too,” Yugi nodded as he started to put the chess board back together, needing to do something with his hands. “But I’m worried about this guy doing siphoning rituals. I’m worried that he’s gonna kill Jou,” 

“Do you know who this person is, the one performing the rituals?” Atem asked gently. Yugi realized abruptly that if he disclosed the person’s name, Atem would probably just kill him. 

“I just have a first name,” he said honestly, praying that Atem wouldn’t ask. “Ryou’s dealing with it,” 

“I’d like to handle it personally,” Atem remarked, catching Yugi’s gaze. There was that pleasant foggy feeling again, the feeling that he could tell Atem anything he wanted and it would all turn out alright. He promised his safety, after all-

Yugi closed his eyes for a moment, remembering Ryou’s crystal and how it cracked open in his hands like a pipe exploding. He saw in his mind's eye a young man with neat black hair and dark eyes like the Isis lady he’d met the other day, laying in a pool of his own blood. 

“You’ll kill him,” he said quietly, looking back at Atem.

“He’s killed my own.” Atem replied simply. “He moved first,”

“His sister believes he’s possessed. Ryou will be able to tell,” Yugi replied, his heart pounding in his chest. 

“So you’ll stand in my way then? Until this Ryou makes judgement?” Atem asked, his tone cool. Yugi squared his jaw and drew on something deep inside himself that brought warmth back into his fingers and cheeks- not the uncomfortable kind he’d felt earlier, but something gentle and soothing.

“Yeah. I can’t condemn someone I don’t know.” he told Atem seriously, meeting Atem’s eyes and feeling no pulling sensation, none of the (euphoric) pull from earlier. Atem held his stare for a few minutes, and then sighed, closing his eyes. 

“You humans have the weirdest morals,” he said finally. “It’s a good thing we had this conversation in private,”

“What do you mean?” Yugi asked.

“If any of my followers saw that they’d insist I kill you, or crush your mind, or something of the sorts for the insolence,” Atem explained flippantly. 

“So, you’re not going to do those things to me?” Yugi asked.

“And lose a competent chess player? Hardly. Besides, you’re cute and your defiance makes you cuter,” Atem replied. “Unless, of course, you want me to-”

“Nope! I’m absolutely fine, thank you very much,” Yugi cut Atem off, his cheeks pinkening again at the salacious look that crossed Atem’s face. Atem chuckled and for a moment Yugi could feel that pleasantly foggy sensation creep in again, like laying on cold silk sheets after a long hot day. 

“Another game?” Atem asked. Yugi paused. As much as he’d love to just relax and indulge in the intoxicating feeling surrounding him that had nothing to do with wine, he knew when to stop. It was a school night, after all.

“No, I think I’d like to go home now,” Yugi told Atem. 

“Very well. Would you give me the pleasure of escorting you to your dorm room?” Atem asked. Yugi blinked, not expecting that.

“Uh, sure,” he agreed. Atem nodded and stood, offering Yugi his arm. Yugi took it and tried to keep the butterfly of his pulse in his throat as he walked with Atem through the bar where people saw them and whispered. 

“I wanted to make sure people saw us leaving,” he murmured into Yugi’s ear as they walked out into the cool autumn air. 

“Right,” Yugi nodded, still focusing on keeping up with Atem’s long legs as they walked. 

“I’m glad I caught you this evening,” Atem remarked as they walked.

“Me too! The chess games were fun,” Yugi agreed.

“Even the one you lost?” Atem asked, amusement coloring his tone.

“Yeah,” Yugi nodded. “Winning is fun, don’t get me wrong, but losing usually teaches you something,”

“Oh? And what did you learn from your loss?” Atem asked.

“You like to play around with your opponent, draw things out,” Yugi replied. Atem paused, mulling it over, before shrugging and nodding.

“That is true. It’s a terrible habit of mine,” he admitted, grinning. They stood in front of Yugi’s dorm house before Yugi even realized it. He was a little disappointed- it seemed like the walk to the bar took longer. “Well, here is where I must leave you for the night,”

“Mm,” Yugi nodded. Atem turned to Yugi and put his hands on Yugi’s cheeks. Yugi startled for a moment as Atem leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. 

“I’m a man of my word,” Atem murmured against Yugi’s skin. “And as such, I’ve put a mark on you so anyone who comes across you knows you’re under my protection. Stay safe, little Yugi,” 

Yugi stood still for a few moments, swaying, before he realized Atem was gone. 

\---  
Ryou hurried, glancing at his phone repeatedly to figure out where The Winged Dragon even was- it was within walking distance to the campus, but barely. Anxiety dripped into Ryou’s brain as he imagined this Malik fellow not showing up, being offended by the lateness, just deciding to kill everybody. He ducked into The Winged Dragon and glanced around the shop, looking for dark hair. He saw a few people with darker hair, but didn't get any vibes of fae magic from them. Ryou frowned and got in line to order a drink, widening his focus...

And there he saw him, sitting in the far corner with a plate of falafel was probably one of the most gorgeous men Ryou had ever seen. His platinum blond hair contrasted very nicely to his dark skin and while he was wearing a dark trench coat, the coat was open enough to reveal a crop top that showed some nice abs. Ryou coughed and turned, ordering himself a pot of hibiscus tea. He paid, took the pot along with a mug and walked towards the blond with purpose.

“Excuse me,” he spoke up gently. The blond blinked at Ryou, and Ryou swallowed harshly- his eyes were such a lovely shade of lavender. “Are you Malik?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, and Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re uh, Ryou right? My sister set us up?”

“Yeah,” Ryou sat down and set his teapot down to steep. 

“Want some?” Malik asked, pushing the plate of falafel subtly to Ryou. “They’re still hot even,”

“Sure,” Ryou smiled at Malik and took one. “Sorry about the tardiness, my class went a little long and finding this place was tricky,”

“Not from around here?” Malik asked.

“No. Kent England,” Ryou explained before taking a bite. As he bit he realized that Malik had an attachment. It still had a humanoid form of a man with a shaved head and a set of intense eyes, watching Malik with worry etched on its face. The spirit turned and made eye contact with Ryou and all at once Ryou felt a hot blade run across his throat, tasted blood flooding his mouth-

He put the falafel down rapidly.

“Something wrong? You got pale. Uh, paler,” Malik asked. Ryou swallowed and tried not to retch. 

“You’ve got an attachment,” he murmured. 

“Um?” Malik blinked. Ryou grabbed his teapot and poured some (weak) tea and took a slow sip.

“A ghost. You have a ghost following you. I just got a strong impression of how he died, which tends to ruin my appetite,” Ryou explained.

“What’s his name?” Malik asked.

“What’s your name?” Ryou asked the spirit simply, who looked startled at being addressed. It tried to mouth something out, but blood poured from its lips.

“Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Rishiiiiiiiii,” the spirit gurgled out before vanishing. Ryou sighed.

“He’s gone. Uh, Rishi?” he said questioningly. Malik’s eyes lit up, and then darkened with sorrow.

“Rishid. My brother,” he murmured, toying with a napkin. “Death by vampire. That’s gotta ruin your appetite,” Ryou frowned down at his falafel- true, his appetite was ruined, but vampires didn’t usually slit the throats of their victims. That would be wasteful. “So, you can see spirits and stuff?”

“Yeah,” Ryou replied.

“And you practice magic?” Malik pushed on.

“I do,” Ryou nodded.

“Good. I hope you can help me.” Malik took a deep breath and pulled out a tattered and old book with some brown stains on it that Ryou didn’t like. “How much has my sister told you?”

“She showed me your siphoning ritual,” Ryou pulled out his own notebook and flipped it open to the page Miss Ishtar helped edit. Malik peered over at the page and cracked open the book, flipping it to a page that had the same circle on it. “Where did you get that book?”

“Stole it off the bastard who killed my brother,” Malik replied simply. Ryou peered over at it- the lines of the circle looked like they were squirming- and then back at Malik. 

“Do you know who wrote it? Anything about it?” Ryou asked. Malik narrowed his eyes and frowned.

“No,” he answered petulantly. “You sound like my sister,”

“Sorry,” Ryou replied reflexively, “but what you’re doing is super dangerous,” 

“It needs to be done,” Malik countered.

“Yes, but at what cost? There’s no way this ritual isn’t warping you,” Ryou pointed out. Malik squinted at him, his frown deepening.

“Warping me how?” he asked.

“Prolonged use of fae magic without a proper sacrifice can cause physical and spiritual changes in a person,” Ryou explained. 

“What do you sacrifice to do magic?” Malik asked. Ryou looked at him and frowned.

“Sleep, mostly,” he admitted. “Different rituals require different sacrifices though. I can’t tell just by looking at this circle what it requires, but there’s no stopping it from taking what it needs. What it wants,” 

“I don’t like the sounds of that,” Malik murmured softly after a moment or two of thought. Ryou shifted in his seat. He didn’t want to bring it up, but there was a possession-shaped elephant in the room. “Did my sister mention my periods of... blacking out?”

“She did. That worries me the most,” Ryou admitted. 

“It’s like there’s another person there,” Malik explained, his voice low and soft and almost anxious. He kept moving his hands to his wrists and then to his napkin, a back and forth that was distracting to Ryou. When Malik’s sleeve moved, Ryou spotted knives strapped to his arms, and his pulse sped up. “What would you do?”

“A purification ritual,” Ryou explained, flipping his notebook open to another circle he’d found. “Several, actually. One in the morning, one in the evening, one before and after each siphoning ritual you do,” 

“Sounds complicated,” Malik complained.

“It’s like washing your hands before and after you eat,” Ryou explained, tearing the page out of his notebook and placing it in Malik’s probably bloodstained book on top of the siphoning circle pointedly. “I can’t convince you to stop siphoning vampires although I want it to be known it’s a really bad idea, but at least can you be safe about it?” 

“You don’t even know me,” Malik said and something in his voice made Ryou’s skin break out into goosebumps. “How can you- how-how can you...” Malik trailed off, dropping his face into his hands. Ryou was about to move away when Malik’s hand shot out and grabbed Ryou’s wrist aggressively. 

“I told that woman not to get involved,” the entity possessing Malik growled, his grip on Ryou’s wrist tightening. It was the same arm that Ryou cut earlier to feed Jounouchi, so it hurt. “Oh well. What a lovely specimen she’s brought before me,” it leered, Malik’s eyes turning into hungry, gaping voids as Ryou looked at him.

“How may I call you?” Ryou asked politely, just managing to keep his voice calm and his free hand under the table to sketch out defensive runes. 

“How about ‘Master’?” the entity possessing Malik offered, its mouth curling into a wide grin.

“Try again,” Ryou suggested sweetly. The entity possessing Malik giggled, a distorted sound that made Ryou’s nerves twang unpleasantly.

“Oh you’re a cute one,” it purred, lunging forward and kissing Ryou. Ryou stiffened, startled by the sudden intrusion into his personal space. He was even more startled by the fact that he suddenly couldn’t move, frozen in place as this entity of unknown origin kissed him. Not only was the kiss way more aggressive than Ryou wanted his first kiss to be, he could feel something snaking under his skin and pulling him in closer. Ryou let out a soft noise he hoped was one of protest, realizing with a sinking heart that it came out more like a pitiful squeak and made the entity possessing Malik smile against Ryou’s lips. Ryou’s head spun and he felt a hand run through his hair, tipping his head back to deepen the kiss. 

Someone jostled the table- Ryou didn’t know who or what but the entity possessing Malik broke the kiss and sneered something- everything sounded like Ryou was underwater. He realized the hand holding his head was holding him up only when that hand left and Ryou slumped on the table. His lips felt numb, his tongue lay useless in his mouth, his limbs weighted with lead. 

“Fucking hell,” a familiar voice growled. Ryou tried once, and then twice, and then finally a third time to push himself up from the table to see who was there- sure enough, the infamous Thief King Bakura stood at the table, arms crossed and looking angry. Malik was gone. “I leave you alone for one minute-”

“You’ve been following me,” Ryou slurred. 

“Looks like you need someone to keep an eye on you,” Bakura grumbled. Ryou’s arms trembled and as soon as Bakura got close, he slumped over on the vampire. Thinking clearly was a luxury Ryou didn’t have at the moment and he felt a little bit of some foregin energy stir in his veins in a warning that Bakura didn’t seem to heed as he picked Ryou up. 

“Sun’s still up,” he mumbled into Bakura’s neck. He had a nice, deep scent to him like night air with a sweet undertone, pomegranate maybe? 

“Yeah? What of it?” Bakura rumbled. Ryou could actually feel his chest vibrate with his words, which was a cool feeling. 

“You’ll get hurt. Sunlight burns vampires,” Ryou explained.

“Maybe it burns the shitty vampires in England, but not me,” Bakura retorted. Ryou was pretty sure they were moving, but he could only tell by the wind whipping past them. “Which dorm are you in?”

“Six. We’re there already?” Ryou asked.

“I’m fast,” Bakura explained.

“Oh,” Ryou mumbled, feeling a thrill of anxiety as Bakura approached. “Ryuuji won’t like this,” he mumbled.

“Who’s Ryuuji?” Bakura asked, opening the front door. 

“Me,” a cool voice answered. 

\--

In Bakura’s defense, he was distracted. He had himself an armful of fae-touched human that was behaving in a manner way closer to a snuggling cat than was right, and this was distracting. So pardon him if he didn’t realize he was stepping into fae territory until said fae was standing in the doorway, arms crossed in front of his chest, looking rather angry. 

“Hi Ryuuji, mind taking this kid off of my hands?” Bakura asked in his usual, hopefully charming way. He even smiled. 

“What did you do to him?” Ryuuji demanded harshly.

“I didn’t do anything to him-”

“Friday night I heard Our Lady of The Moon tell you off- I know it was you, I could smell you on little Ryou the following morning. Now I find you at my doorstep holding one of my chicks, obviously in a state, and you expect me to believe you did nothing to him?” Ryuuji snapped. Bakura’s smile turned into a display of fangs for a moment before he took a calming breath and reassessed the situation. 

“You’re of the Fair Folk. Can’t you smell a lie?” Bakura asked simply. Ryuuji snorted.

“Pretty words will get you nowhere, thief,” he informed Bakura.

“Then have some ugly ones- I could drain this kid and leave his lifeless corpse in the forest somewhere if I wanted to but I’m here at your doorstep. Something happened to him and I’m not entirely sure what. Either help me or get out of my way so I can put him to bed.” Bakura told the fae flatly. Ryuuji paused for a moment, considering. He stepped closer and reached out to Ryou, who made no movements to avoid his touch. Bakura frowned- he didn’t like how still Ryou was being. 

“Hm. A leecher,” Ryuuji muttered, brushing his long fingers along Ryou’s cheeks and chin.

“You mean lecher,” Bakura huffed in response. “Had his hands all over him. I didn’t like it.” 

“Why not?” Ryuuji wondered, gesturing for Bakura to follow him as he walked further into the house. Bakura did and didn’t even glance when the door closed itself. 

Bakura didn’t really want to answer that question. After their encounter on Friday night he’d had the silver haired kid in his head in a way that usually only occurred before grand heists. Then again, stealing Ryou from whatever archfae had him in their sights would be the biggest heist he’s ever done. He smiled quietly to himself.

“What can I say, Ryou’s cute,” he announced to Ryuuji, who was waiting for an answer. And it wasn’t technically a lie- he was attractive and smelled nice. 

That must have been the right answer, because Ryuuji smiled slyly as he stood in the entryway to the kitchen. 

“Well then, perhaps you should make him some tea to perk him up a little,” Ryuuji suggested.

“Shouldn’t you make it?” Bakura asked, shifting Ryou to one arm. He realized Ryou had fallen asleep, which worried Bakura more than anything else. 

“Our little Ryou’s too clever to accept food or drink from me,” Ryuuji explained. Right. Fae had weird laws about food. “Mugs are atop the stove. The coffee machine makes hot water. I’ll get the honey you should use,” 

“Okay,” Bakura shrugged and grabbed the first mug that his hand found (something with yellow dogs messily painted on the sides) and walked over to the coffee machine, pressing the hot water button. The water made an unholy shriek as it poured into the mug and Ryou stirred for a moment. Once the mug was full Bakura used his nose to find the tea cabinet, pawing through the unorganized boxes until he found a pouch of tea that smelled right- cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, black pepper. He squeezed the teabag between his fingers and focused, pulling a little bit of shadow from inside himself and smearing it over the teabag. Sure, Bakura was low on energy but after some careful sampling of the blood in The Pharaoh’s territory, Bakura was at about three quarters strength and could spare a little. Ryou’s energy felt dangerously low, like a candle sputtering in a dark cave. 

With grim thoughts in mind, Bakura dropped the teabag into the hot water and watched the water darken immediately with satisfaction. Three minutes for the tea to steep felt too long, and while Bakura’s arm didn’t grow tired holding a young man his hand did find its way to Ryou’s ass, which was fine in one sense that it was a pretty nice ass, but not fine in the sense that Ryuuji was watching him and Bakura wasn’t sure if that was approval or distrust on his face. He was getting some mixed messages from the fae, and that made Bakura uneasy.

Ryuuji set a jar of opaque honey next to Bakura and offered him a spoon. As the tea reached the right color, Bakura carefully opened the container of honey by bracing it against Ryou’s limp knee and scooped a healthy amount of the stuff into the tea. The honey smelled fruity. Bakura pulled the teabag out of the mug and before he could toss it into the trash Ryuuji snatched it up and ate it. Bakura shrugged. That was gross, but it was Ryuuji’s business. There wasn’t any magic left in the teabag now, all of it swirled in the dark waters of the dog mug.

“C’mon Ryou, wake up,” he murmured, jostling Ryou a little. Ryou whined and opened his eyes, blinking slowly. Before he could question it, Bakura brought the warm mug to Ryou’s lips and gently urged him to drink, which Ryou did without question. He hummed a little and Bakura felt something like pride grow in his chest. He then realized how damn domestic it probably looked (just a sidelong glance at Ryuuji, who was grinning widely, told him all he needed to know) and Bakura scowled.

“Don’t scowl so Thief, you’ll scare little Ryou,” Ryuuji teased.

“M not little,” Ryou muttered around the tea he was downing greedily. Bakura shifted Ryou in his arms.

“You sure aren’t,” he quipped.

“You can put me down,” Ryou pointed out.

“Yes, but then I’d have to pick you up again. You were shaking like a rabbit earlier,” Bakura replied. Ryou still had a fine tremble in his hands as he held the mug, after all. He looked like he was concentrating very hard on not dropping the mug. “Which room is yours?”

“Finish the tea first, no food outside the kitchen,” Ryuuji piped up.

“Tea isn’t a food,” Bakura argued.

“It’s a consumable, thus it counts,” Ryuuji shook his head. Ryou drained the mug in a quick series of gulps and placed it on the counter carefully.

“Problem solved,” he announced proudly. 

“Good. Bedroom time,” Bakura announced, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room. He looked around for a few moments.

“Keep going. There’s a hallway, Ryou instructed. Bakura peered and spotted a hallway, walking down it.

“Which one?” he asked.

“This one,” Ryou pointed to a door. Bakura opened it and stepped in. It sure was Ryou’s room, the whole right side of it smelled strongly like him- pine and linen and sweat. Streetlight shone through the window above Ryou’s bed, illuminating enough of the room for Bakura to see without having to turn a light on. Bakura gently kicked the door shut and walked to the bed, sitting down on it. “Why are you doing this?”

“You’re interesting,” Bakura replied. “Do I need a reason? I felt like it,” 

“How capricious,” Ryou muttered, resting his head on Bakura’s shoulder.

“So are you always this cuddly to people who save you?” Bakura asked with a smirk.

“I’ve only ever saved myself,” Ryou replied, sounding incredibly tired. “So this is a first for me. Pardon me for enjoying it,” 

“You’re pardoned,” Bakura allowed. Ryou snorted. 

“I’m surprised you’re not trying to go for my neck,” he muttered. Now it was Bakura’s turn to snort.

“Right now your blood is probably like drinking water- no thank you. I’ll wait until you’re recovered before I get a taste,” Bakura assured him. 

“How relieving,” Ryou commented dryly. Bakura watched him quietly as his eyelids drooped, brushing lush lashes against the tops of his cheeks. 

“Why were you meeting that vampire hunter?” Bakura asked quietly.

“I wanted to save him,” Ryou replied drowsily. “What he’s doing is dangerous. It’s twisting him. He has the spirit of his dead brother hanging onto him and a possession problem. It’s a mess,” 

“Why do you have to save him?” Bakura frowned. 

“No one else will. I may as well,” Ryou replied. “Besides, it’s all a mystery. I want to know what is possessing him. I want to know why his brother Rishid is haunting him, and the circumstances of his death. Malik says vampire, but vampires don’t slit the throats of their quarries,”

“Wasteful,” Bakura wrinkled his nose. He spent most of his life starving and the thought of wasting all that blood disgusted him. 

“I know!” Ryou agreed, sighing and resting his head against Bakura’s shoulder. He felt intoxicatingly warm, something Bakura wanted to burrow into and hide inside. Bakura knew he should set Ryou down and let him sleep, but couldn't bring himself to part with the human laying so innocently in his arms and practically in his lap. It was fine, he was a thief and thus allowed to be selfish. “Were you watching the whole time?”

“Hm?” Bakura snapped out of his daze. This position was dangerous.

“My date with Malik,” Ryou clarified.

“That was a date?” Bakura asked. Ryou shrugged.

“As much of one as I’ve ever been on. Got a little handsy in the end though,” he admitted. 

“Does that happen to you often?” Bakura asked with a slight smirk. He wouldn’t be surprised if it did- Ryou was beautiful in an ethereal way like how opals were, glowing pale precious stones with flashes of fire and magic within. 

“That was my first kiss,” Ryou replied quietly.

“Oh. That was a shitty first kiss then,” Bakura was startled, and rather annoyed at the vampire hunter.

“Think you can do better?” Ryou asked after a pause.

“I know I can do better,” Bakura informed Ryou in a matter-of-fact tone. Ryou looked up at him, cinnamon eyes nearly swallowed by hungry black pupils. Bakura could do this- he’s stolen millions in jewelry and fine silks, in ancient artifacts and cold hard cash. He’s stolen blood and stolen lives, a stolen kiss would be nothing to him. Yet he paused, mere inches before Ryou’s lips and Ryou leaned in to close the gap, pushing their lips together. Ryou’s lips were slightly chapped and his mouth tasted like tea, but Bakura didn’t mind. He could hear Ryou’s pulse thrumming in his throat and grinned sharply against Ryou’s lips, deepening the kiss. Ryou shifted slightly and soon was straddling Bakura’s lap as he kissed, each kiss getting hotter. Bakura didn’t have to breathe which was super convenient, but Ryou broke away to gasp for air. While Bakura could have gone for Ryou’s neck he chose not to, watching how pretty Ryou’s cheeks looked flushed pink, how his lips were parted and swollen, how his ears were bright red. 

“Sockonthedoor,” Ryou gasped out in a rush.

“What?” Bakura furrowed his brows.

“I need. To put a sock on the door,” Ryou explained, explaining nothing. 

“No, you need to kiss me again,” Bakura disagreed, leaning in for more kisses. It had been quite a while and he forgot how good it felt to devour someone else without sinking his fangs into them. 

He’d get to that later.

Ryou melted against him again, looping his arms around the back of Bakura’s neck. For all his assurances that he didn’t want Ryou’s blood in this state, he did tease Ryou’s lower lip with his fangs and relished in the soft gasp Ryou let out- that was as delicious as his blood. Bakura paused for a moment- he swore he felt that fucking Pharaoh’s presence nearby- and Ryou nipped his lip right back which sent a thrill down to lower parts of his anatomy. A low rumble like a growl escaped Bakura’s throat and he went back to kissing Ryou silly, the presence now gone. Ryou shivered in his arms, tugging subtly at his hair. Bakura was about to slip Ryou some tongue when the door to their room opened and-

“Ryou you will not believe what just happened- oh,” the fool who interrupted them- some short kid with obnoxious hair and the Pharaoh’s Mark glowing on his forehead-flushed and froze in place. 

“Hey,” Ryou said weakly. “That’s why we needed a sock on the door,”

“What are you talking about?” Bakura demanded. “Does a sock on the door keep idiots from interrupting us?”

“He’s not an idiot,” Ryou muttered, his cheeks still stained a pretty pink. “He’s my friend.But yeah, it lets him know I have company,”

“That’s one way of putting it. Is this that Thief King guy?” Ryou’s roommate demanded, suspicion in his tone. Ryou’s blush darkened. “Ryou! I knew it!”

“That’s rich coming from a kid who reeks like that fucking Pharaoh,” Bakura drawled. “Ryou, your friend has bad taste,” As he predicted, the little guy turned a bright red. Bakura didn’t predict Ryou to puff up in his arms, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Yugi! I thought Honda was just going to take you to The Palace to drop off the information we found!” he hissed, sounding rather indignant. It was cute.

“Yeah, well I ran into Atem there and we talked,” Yugi retorted. “He’s actually a gentleman-”

“He tried to eat you last time!” Ryou cut Yugi off. Bakura had his own comment, but he kept it to himself. 

“You’re literally sitting in a vampire’s lap!” Yugi pointed out.

“Yeah? And he hasn’t tried to drink my blood once,” Ryou retorted.

“He’s probably just biding his time!” Yugi replied smugly. Bakura shrugged.

“Kid’s got a point,” he said. Ryou huffed and climbed off of Bakura’s lap, swaying a little. Despite Ryou being a brat, Bakura grabbed his shoulders to steady him. “Easy there, don’t fly into a conniption,” 

“I’m not going to fly into anything,” Ryou muttered, grabbing his head. “Still dizzy,” 

“What did-”

“It wasn’t me,” Bakura cut off Yugi’s accusation. “Apparently it was someone’s bright idea to go on a date with a vampire hunter that is possessed by something that, I don’t know-”

“Leeched the energy right out of me,” Ryou finished.

“That’s what that fae meant by ‘leecher’,” Bakura mused.

“He siphoned you? Without a circle?” Yugi asked.

“Yeah,” Ryou nodded.

“By kissing him,” Bakura added, still annoyed. Yugi blinked at him, a subtle look of understanding on his face.

“Did you want him to kiss you?” he asked Ryou. Ryou shook his head.

“It was his uh, alter ego,” he explained. “The thing possessing him,” 

“And to think I went out of my way to keep Atem from killing them,” Yugi muttered. 

“Well, Malik is okay,” Ryou amended. 

“He’s a vampire hunter. They’re all nuts,” Bakura pointed out.

“Says you,” Ryou retorted.

“Yeah. I’ve met more than you have,” Bakura explained patiently, making Ryou pout a little. “Don’t make me kiss you again,”

“Not with an audience,” Ryou told Bakura seriously. Bakura relented. He could respect that. Besides, Ryou was leaning on him again, his eyelids drooping. It looks like whatever burst of energy the tea gave him was fading. 

“Ryou... are you gonna be okay?” Yugi asked softly, worry obvious on his face. Bakura felt something hot and ugly rise in his throat, but swallowed it harshly. Under the stink of the Pharaoh, Yugi’s scent permeated in the room as well as Ryou’s. They were close. 

“Mmm, probably,” Ryou mumbled.

“You should get some sleep,” Bakura commented, doing what he should have done in the beginning and urging Ryou to lay down. Ryou tried to resist but caved very quickly and Bakura had to take a moment to look at him sprawled on his bed, eyes locked on his own. “Try not to get into trouble,” he muttered, standing abruptly and rushing out of the room before Ryou could say anything.

Bakura had to get away, before he said anything else that could be considered sappy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> -I don't know what all the shipping codenames mean and at this point I'm too scared to ask  
> -The bouncer gets fired. Dude is really supposed to be checking peoples' ID. Come on bro.  
> -Bakura is annoyed that he couldn't save the falafel but he only had two arms.   
> -He tipped the waitress but out of Ryou's pocket money  
> -Everyone in this story has loveseats for some reason...  
> -I write these chapters one chapter ahead so I just got done writing chapter 6 which is a bit on the shorter side, which is why this is being published so soon


	6. Suppose I Just Kept Singing Love Songs Just To Break My Own Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pining. Ryou talks to ghosts. Jounouchi makes gnocchi. Atem makes a mistake.

“I never loved nobody fully  
Always one foot on the ground  
And by protecting my heart truly  
I got lost in the sounds  
I hear in my mind   
All these voices...”  
-Fidelity, Regina Spektor 

For Jounouchi, life became easier and harder at the same time.

He couldn't eat human food anymore. This didn’t stop him in his plans though, and while his system didn’t tolerate solid food anymore Jounouchi’s sense of smell had increased to the point where he didn’t need to taste the dishes he was cooking, he could tell what was going on by scent alone. The only thing he couldn't tell was texture, but Jounouchi figured that with enough experience he’d find a way to circumnavigate this. 

Jounouchi could still consume liquids, just in moderation. For example, Mai lived on blood and black coffee. Drinking coffee or tea straight would not give Jounouchi a caffeine buzz, but Mai informed him if he drank from someone under the influence of any kind of drug be it caffeine, alcohol, or the more illegal kinds, the effects would transfer to Jounouchi. 

Drinking blood was another unusual thing- ever since Ryou’s initial donation, Jounouchi had taken bottled blood from Mai. Each one had a different scent and flavor to it, although the bottled stuff all had a subtle metallic taste to it. Ryou’s blood was rich and almost buttery, like eating a piece of fine quality white chocolate. When he explained this to Mai, she snorted.

“That kid is severely fae-touched. You can tell fae-touched people because whatever a fae touches, it marks. Usually it’s shown in a weird eye color, an interesting discoloration, a streak of white in the hair... that Ryou kid has a full head of white though. I don’t envy that kid at all,” she shook her head and it was hard to tell if he felt disapproval or pity. Maybe a combination of the two. Jounouchi was a bit worried about Ryou- he missed a few days of school and stayed cooped up in his room and Jounouchi wondered if taking his blood had a negative effect on him. Yugi assured him that wasn’t the case, but didn’t clarify what exactly happened. Jounouchi wondered if it was connected to the scent of a strange vampire hanging around the kitchen, or the fact that his favorite mug was left out and unwashed. 

“Speaking of marks, what about the thing on Yug’s head?” Jounouchi asked. “It’s kinda glowy,” 

“What’s it look like?” Mai asked.

“Here,” Jounouchi took out one of his notebooks and sketched the symbol in the margins- it looked like an eye, but stylized. Mai narrowed her eyes.

“Damn. Looks like your friend has caught the eye of the Pharaoh,” she remarked. “That’s a mark to warn other vampires away from your friend. Basically, take his blood or hurt him and the Pharaoh will fuck your shit up,”

“Woah,” Jounouchi murmured, tapping his chin. “What’s he like? This Pharaoh?”

“He’s a good leader,” Mai replied, toying with her rings idly- she did that a lot when she was thinking. “Stern. Takes his games of chess ridiculously seriously. I played against him once and he wiped the floor with my ass,” 

“That’s probably why he’s got an interest in Yugi then- no one plays chess as good as him. Even Moneybags got his butt beat by him, and he’d been the reigning champ for a while,” Jounouchi explained.

“Our Pharaoh is also quite the flirt,” Mai added, giving Jounouchi a sidelong glance. “That kind of a mark isn’t put on a gaming rival, it’s put on a potential lover,” 

“Oh,” Jounouchi’s train of thought stopped and he frowned. “I hope he doesn’t hurt Yugi,” 

“It’s inevitable that he will, it’s just a matter of how badly,” Mai explained gently. “Relationships with humans are messy. Best case scenario, they turn out to be good for each other and the Pharaoh turns Yugi. Otherwise there’s the whole drama of watching the person you love age and die,” 

Without meaning to, Jounouchi’s thoughts turned to Kaiba, and he hated it. That jackass was watching him now more than ever and Jounouchi’s heart got a thrill when he noticed it. Sometimes he watched Kaiba right back and noticed things about him that he didn’t want to know- the impossibly intense blue of his eyes, the cut of his jaw, the way his back dipped when he laid on his stomach while studying on his bed. Kaiba used some bougie-ass shampoo that smelled fucking divine and Jounouchi hadn’t noticed it before but now he did, some kind of sandalwood and citrus thing-

“Hello? Earth to Katsuya,” Mai waved a hand in front of Jounouchi’s face. 

“Huh? Yeah?” Jounouchi asked. Mai chuckled and sat back in her loveseat, curling up her legs to get comfortable. 

“So who are you daydreaming about?” she asked. 

“Who says I'm daydreaming?” Jounouchi asked, feeling his cheeks get hot. 

“Katsuya, we have a psychic connection and you’re really bad at keeping your emotions to yourself,” Mai pointed out. “Don’t worry about it, it’s endearing as hell. But I have to know, who is it you’re pining after? Please tell me it’s not Yugi, I’d hate to lose you because you challenged the Pharaoh over a human-”

“No, no no nothing like that. Yug’ n I are just bros,” Jounouchi explained hastily. Mai nodded wisely.

“Okay, so is it Ryou then? You’ve been awfully worried about him,” she asked. Jounouchi shook his head, a look of wonder on his face. “What’s with that look?”

“Your guesses have been guys,” Jounouchi remarked. 

“Well you live with a bunch of men, I figured it was most likely going to be one of them,” Mai pointed out. “No judgement. Ryou’s pretty, although I’ll donate my entire shoe collection to the local Salvation Army if he turns out to be straight, so I’m not going after that.” 

Jounouchi couldn’t explain the wave of relief that filled him like water spilling over a glass. Mai watched him and reached over to touch his arm gently.

“It’s Kaiba,” Jounouchi mumbled. Mai blinked, and Jounouchi could feel the surprise rolling off of her, turning into approval.

“You go kid, chase that paper,” she remarked, lifting her coffee mug to Jounouchi in a toast.

“That’s not what I’m after,” Jounouchi explained, “I don’t care that he’s rich. He’s just. Ugh. I hate him,” 

“But you’re into him?” Mai asked.

“Yes,” Jounouchi whined, covering his face. “He’s stupid and pretty and a jerk and he’s really smart and it’s intimidating and I don’t know if I want to be him or kiss him and it’s really embarrassing cuz I know he’d get all weird if he knew and probably make fun of me but I just. I hate how he looks at me, like I’m nothing. I want to be something to him. I guess it’s easier to be an annoyance, I guess,” 

“Oh no you are not doing that,” Mai straightened, her expression turning stern. “No fledgeling of mine is going to mope in self-pity, so stop that this instant,” 

“O-ok,” Jounouchi stammered, startled by Mai’s ferocity. 

“Now you need to understand this about yourself- you’re talented and have a strong drive to succeed, which most people don’t have, and you’re kind. Probably too kind, but whatever. So either Kaiba sees that or he doesn’t, that’s his problem, you got it? Not yours. If he puts you down, he’s not worth your time,” Mai lectured. 

“Yessum,” Jounouchi nodded. 

“Good,” Mai took a sip from her mug, seemingly placiated. “Guess I have to give you the birds and the bees talk now,”

“I don’t need that! I know what to do!” Jounouchi sputtered, flushing. 

“Really?” Mai arched a brow. “Did you learn from porno flicks because I hate to burst your bubble, but that stuff is mostly unhealthy,” 

“Not, no not exactly,” Jounouchi shook his head. “I’ve been, uh, around the block a few times. Besides we’re probably not even going to-” his line of thought petered off at the image of Seto Kaiba sprawled on his bed, naked and flushed and- “I mean I wouldn’t be adverse but-”

“Calm down Katsuya, my god,” Mai cut him off with a chuckle. “It’s different now. You’re more likely to feel bloodlust before, during, and after sex so be aware of that. Make sure you eat before you do any funny business. Always get consent-”

“Of course! What kind of a person do you take me for?” Jounouchi demanded, a little insulted.

“I’m talking about biting, some people don’t like having giant hickies all over the place. The thighs are a good place to go for if he wants to keep things on the down low,” Mai informed Jounouchi. “Or she, you don’t seem to mind us ladies,” 

“I’m, uh, bisexual,” Jounouchi explained.

“Me too,” Mai nodded wisely. “You won’t get anywhere with me though, I don’t date my fledgelings,” 

“That’s honestly okay,” Jounouchi admitted. “You’re kinda like the cool big sister I never had,” 

“That’s disgustingly cute, Katsuya,” Mai announced, finishing her coffee. “I need more coffee to get over how sweet that was. What the fuck.” 

“Sweets are my specialty,” Jounouchi announced. “I make a mean cherry pie. And this one time I made these meringues, those were good,” 

“Right, right,” Mai padded off to her kitchen to get some more coffee. Jounouchi settled back into the recliner he’d claimed, sighing quietly. 

He could tease Mai because she could take it. He could tease Honda and Yugi and even Ryou now. But Seto fucking Kaiba? That man felt unreachable. 

\---  
Seto silently moved a rook to take Mokuba’s bishop. The younger Kaiba’s face was screwed up in concentration, and Seto used this as an excuse not to bring up the roommate situation. It all weighed heavily on his mind for the past few weeks and he didn’t realize he’d left his queen open until Mokuba took it. 

“What’s wrong, Seto?” Mokuba asked. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Seto replied almost automatically. Mokuba gave him a skeptical look. 

“I’ve known you your whole life,” Mokuba pointed out. “I know when something’s on your mind. So spill!” 

“Hm,” Seto muttered, moving a knight. He didn’t know where to begin, or how to explain it. Mokuba was looking at Seto expectantly, and he had no other choice, really. He knew Mokuba well enough to know the younger man wouldn’t let it go until Seto explained. “My roommate is a vampire,” 

“Oh,” Mokuba frowned. “Are you scared?”

“No,” Seto shook his head. The feeling he felt when he saw Jounouchi’s fangs as he spoke was not fear. It was certainly A Feeling, but not fear. “I have your knife,” 

“Good,” Mokuba nodded. 

“He said he’s not interested in my blood anyways,” Seto added, a little sour about that. 

“He’s an idiot then. Your blood is probably super tasty,” Mokuba pointed out. Seto nodded. “So like, do you want him to be interested in your blood?”

“Not particularly,” Seto lied, moving a piece. 

“Seto, you’re lying,” Mokuba said in a sing-song voice. “You want this guy to want your blood?” Seto huffed as he stared at the chessboard, trying to figure out how to turn things around. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have at all with his baby brother, let alone in the living room of the dorm. “Is he cute?”

“No,” Seto replied flatly. He would never in a million years call Jounouchi cute. He was infuriating, stubborn, maybe even handsome. Not cute. “You’ve seen him. He’s the blond.” 

“Hm,” Mokuba murmured, mimicking Seto’s earlier expression. “Blonds are good. I like blonds,” 

“You’re too young to have such an opinion,” Seto pointed out, not liking the idea of Mokuba dating. Mokuba looked up at him with mischief in his eyes and put Seto into check. Seto let a soft bit of breath hiss out of his teeth. 

“So do you like him because he’s a vampire or did you like him before?” Mokuba asked. Seto made a face.

“I’m not answering that question,” Seto grumbled as Mokuba took his king. “Doesn’t matter anyways,” 

“Why not?” Mokuba asked.

“He’s into a woman, the one who turned him into a vampire. She’s,” Seto paused, trying to find the right word for Mai. “Conventionally attractive,” he settled on, the phrase dripping from his lips like poison.

“Meaning?” Mokuba prodded.

“Blonde. Confident. Has a large ah, personality,” Seto explained. 

“The bond between a vampire and their fledgeling is pretty strong. Not unbreakable, so there’s hope for you yet,” Mokuba assured Seto.

“You’re taking this whole ‘vampires are real’ thing very well” Seto remarked, setting up the chess board again. Mokuba shrugged, watching.

“I’ve been around, seen some things. Don’t worry about it Seto,” Mokuba told him. Before Seto could comment on such an ominous statement, he heard a commotion from down the hall that sounded suspiciously like Jounouchi.

“Aw Hell No!”

“C’mon mate, it’s not that bad,” Seto could hear Ryou’s voice cajoling Jounouchi and drawing closer. “Listen, you’re a vampire and thus already undead so it’s not that big of a deal-”

“No ghosts. I”m not fuckin doin ghosts,” Jounouchi stomped through the living room and into the kitchen, followed by Ryou and Yugi.

“You don’t have to do them,” Yugi informed Jounouchi brightly. Seto cleared his throat to get their attention and pointed to Mokuba. “Oh, sorry. We’ll keep it pg,” 

“And keep your ghosts in the other room. The kitchen is sacred. No ghost zone, right over here,” Jounouchi shouted from the kitchen. 

“You’re talking to ghosts?” Mokuba asked, sounding more interested in the topic than Seto would like. Ryou nodded seriously, raising an eyebrow at Mokuba.

“Here is as good of a place to do it as any, unless you two protest like Jounouchi did,” he remarked, sitting down on the loveseat across from Seto and Mokuba. Yugi sat down next to Ryou, a look of excitement on his face. 

“When you word it like that, how can we?” Seto grumbled. Ryou grinned at him in a way that assured Seto that Ryou did that on purpose. “First vampires, now ghosts. What’s next?”

“Probably fae,” Ryou answered, looking at Mokuba, who covered a giggle with his hand. Weird. 

“Ryou picked up an attachment from the guy who’s been siphoning off vampires. We’re gonna see what kind of information we can get from him,” Yugi explained, his eyes shining. 

“...Neat. How do you intend on doing that?” Seto asked.

“By using psychography, or spirit writing,” Ryou replied, pulling out a pencil and a notebook from the bag slung over his shoulder. He set the notebook down on the cocktail table and pulled out a black velveteen bag from which he pulled out a clump of amethyst, a polished blue cabochon with a wavy pattern on it, and a piece of quartz so clear it looked like glass. Ryou arranged these around the notebook and sat down on the ground in front of it, picking up the pencil and closing his eyes. 

“No ouija boards?” Mokuba asked.

“Ryou says they’re too dangerous,” Yugi explained as Ryou started breathing rhythmically. 

“Nothing’s probably going to happen,” Seto muttered, watching as Ryou placed the pencil on the notebook and began drawing slow loops. “See?”

The loops transitioned into script.

“That’s Arabic,” Mokuba murmured, leaning in.

“I can read it but I’m not the greatest,” Yugi leaned over, giving the side of Ryou that was doing the writing a wide breadth. “It says... ‘I am Rishid. Help Malik.’ It’s just repeating that phrase,” 

“How do I help Malik?” Ryou asked, his voice sounding distant. His hand increased in speed, repeating the same script. Jounouchi poked his head out of the kitchen.

“Uh, someone’s bleeding,” he commented half a second before Seto noticed blood leaking out of Ryou’s mouth. Ryou swallowed and scowled, shaking his head.

“Enough of that!” he scolded in his normal voice. His hand stopped moving. “I know you got your throat slit, thank you very much, you do not need to remind me! Now if you want us to help you, you’re going to need to cut out the theatrics!” 

“You gotta be stern with ghosts,” Mokuba explained to Seto, who stared at Ryou in horror. People didn’t scold ghosts in the movies, especially when they started bleeding.

Then again, he’d never seen a ghost movie with someone like Ryou in it. 

Ryou started writing again and Ryou sighed deeply, starting to do the rhythmic breathing again.

“Thank you, that’s much better,” he intoned, his voice getting distant again. Yugi leaned back over the notebook.

“Okay so it says ‘My death is important. It is how the darkness swallowed Malik.’” Yugi read aloud. “ ‘The darkness was once a man who died. It came attached to a book our father coveted and traded me for-’ wait, what? Oh my god that’s awful-”

“Keep reading Mutou,” Seto grumbled.

“Right, right. ‘Malik was not supposed to see the trade, but he did. He cried out and asked for my life. Our father was unhappy with this. The-’ uh, I don’t know what that word is,” Yugi muttered to himself. 

“I’ll tell you if you play chess with me,” Mokuba piped up.

“You know Arabic?” Yugi frowned. 

“Mhm!” Mokuba nodded cheerfully. “I was bored. Took it as an online class. Do we have a deal?”

“How many games?” Yugi asked.

“Let’s say, one game per word I have to translate,” Mokuba replied. Yugi nodded.

“Deal. What’s this word?” he asked.

“Vampire,” Mokuba supplied.

“Right, that makes sense. Anyways. ‘The vampire cut my throat. The darkness leaped from the vampire to my brother and-” Yugi looked at Mokuba questioningly.

“Influenced,” Mokuba said.

“Right. Influenced Malik to kill our father and the vampire. Now it lives in Malik’s heart and is growing. Save Malik. Remove the darkness.’,” Yugi paused and glanced at Ryou, whose hand started repeating the same phrase over and over again. “Ryou, I think he’s done,”

“Hmm,” Ryou put the pencil down pointedly and reached into the black bag, pulling out what looked like a black marble and started rolling it between his palms. 

“What’s he doing now?” Seto asked.

“Grounding and purifying. That’s probably, what, jet?” Mokuba turned to Yugi curiously.

“Obsidian,” Yugi supplied. Seto scowled and stood, wordlessly walking to the kitchen where things made at least somewhat more sense. 

Jounouchi stood at the counter, a pile of dough in front of him and a bowl of oddly shaped dumplings to the side. Seto watched Jounouchi pinch off a piece of dough, roll it against the tines of a fork, and drop the finished product into the bowl.

“What are you doing?” Seto asked.

“Making gnocchi,” Jounouchi replied. “Shit’s too weird over there, gotta do something with my hands,” 

“Can’t do ghosts, huh?” Seto asked with the shadow of a smirk.

“Nope. If you’re gonna make fun of me you can get out,” Jounouchi replied, not even looking up. 

“I’ll refrain,” Seto assured Jounouchi.

“Thanks,” Jounouchi murmured, continuing to make gnocchi. Seto watched those skillful fingers, impressed by how uniform the dumplings all were. Thinking about what else those fingers could be doing made Seto’s chest constrict. “Something wrong? You smell upset,” 

“How can you tell?” Seto asked, narrowing his eyes. “Are you reading my mind?”

“No, nothing like that,” Jounouchi shook his head. “I just can tell when you’re upset. It’s uh, body language. Eyes tense, jaw clenches. You move around a lot. Do stuff with your hands. Ever since I turned I’ve noticed your smell changes when you’re like that so I associate it with you being upset. Sorry if I offended,” 

“Why do you notice those things?” Seto scowled, feeling overexposed. Jounouchi sighed.

“Just forget about it, forget I said anything,” he muttered, going back to his dumplings. 

“No!” Seto stepped forward into Jounouchi’s space. Jounouchi didn’t look at him, keeping a laser focus on his gnocchi. That pissed Seto off. “Look at me,” 

“Why should I? You’ve never looked at me,” Jounouchi snapped back, pressing his next gnocchi too roughly against the tines of his fork and making it splay into four pieces.

“I’m looking at you right now,” Seto told Jounouchi firmly. Jounouchi turned and looked at him, his eyes a deep scarlet that drew Seto’s gaze. They were very close, Seto realized, and he took no steps back. 

“What do you want from me?” Jounouchi demanded, his voice soft as if raising it would make Seto leave. He’d been bellowed at before, he could take it. Jounouchi didn’t know that though, Seto supposed. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted quietly, hating it. 

“Well, I can’t give you anything if you don’t know what you want,” Jounouchi muttered, moving to turn away. Seto realized something very quickly- he did want something from Jounouchi, and had no idea how to ask for it. 

So instead he kissed Jounouchi. Simple as that. Jounouchi stiffened, and then shyly kissed back. Seto naturally kissed Jounouchi again, pushing his luck. He wasn’t experienced in the whole kissing thing but it didn’t look super difficult- press lips together, hope for the best. It was a lot softer than he’d imagined, made the nerves under his skin sing louder than he’d expected. Seto realized Jounouchi was taking more charge in these kisses than he was, and also realized with a thrill in his chest that he was okay with this. Jounouchi grabbed Seto’s shoulders and probably left streaks of flour on them but as long as they kept kissing, Seto couldn’t find it in himself to care. 

Abruptly, Jounouchi pulled away, swaying on the spot and grabbing the counter to balance himself. He was breathing harshly and trembling, bent over somewhat.

“What- what’s wrong?” Seto asked softly.

“It’s Mai,” Jounouchi croaked out, his voice rough. “She’s in trouble,”

“I’m sure she can handle it,” Seto replied, wanting to get back to kissing. 

“No, it’s beyond that,” Jounouchi shook his head, the look on his face wild. “I gotta find her,” 

“Katsuya!” Seto snapped, ready to punch the idiot blond into staying put. Jounouchi paused, the mad look on his face softening for a moment.

“We’ll talk later okay. I promise,” he said before dashing out of the kitchen. Seto watched after him, his head spinning.

\---  
Every time one of his subordinates disappeared, it was as if someone had cut a cord that Atem had been holding. One moment there was a connection, the next moment there was nothing. 

This time, Atem heard Mai Kujaku scream.

She was one of his closest advisors and the head of his enforcers, a gang of all female vampires called The Harpy Ladies who were excellent at making abusive men disappear, among other things. Not only was she a valuable member of Atem’s court, he was going to be damned if he would let this killer take another one of his own tonight. 

This was why he was walking the cold streets anxiously, snow falling and burning on his skin, and why he ran into a tall blond fledgeling who looked exceptionally distressed. While Atem was a firm believer in helping out newly turned vampires whenever he could, he knew he didn’t have time to assist this fledgeling tonight. 

This thought vanished when he psychically heard Mai scream again, and both he and the fledgeling jerked. They made eye contact for a moment.

“Did you hear that or was that in my head?” the fledgeling asked after a breath.

“No, it was a psychic call,” Atem replied. 

“Why are you hearin’ Mai’s yells?” the fledgeling furrowed his brow.

“Because I’m her Pharaoh,” Atem replied simply. The fledgeling’s eyes widened.

“Aw shit,” he muttered. “You’re the guy dating Yugi! Or something like that,” 

Atem blinked. That was not the reaction he was expecting.

“You must be Jou?” he asked. 

“Jounouchi, yeah,” the fledgeling nodded. “Can you help me find Mai?”

“Of course,” Atem nodded. “Your bond with her will be stronger than mine. If we hurry, we may be able to save her,”

“Hell yeah,” Jounouchi nodded, his eyes jumping from street to street. “She’s not in the city I don’t think,” 

“No?” Atem watched Jounouchi carefully. While Jounouchi’s bond was stronger, he didn’t seem to know what to do with it. “I need you to focus. Try to picture where you feel in your heart she will be,” 

“Like, a forest,” Jounouchi muttered. “She’s on her knees. Pine needles are poking her,” 

“There’s a shortcut to the Domino Nature Preserve this way,” Atem gestured down a street that led to a more affluent part of town. Jounouchi nodded and the two of them hurried down the street, their footsteps muffled by the soft snow that fell from the night sky. 

Atem wanted to ask about Yugi, how he was doing, but could tell by the look of focus on Jounouchi’s face that such questions wouldn’t be welcome. After all, if he was this fiercely loyal to Mai, Jounouchi was surely just as loyal to Yugi. That was good, Atem supposed, although that meant if Jounouchi had any sense he’d try to separate the two of them. 

As they moved into the forest, Atem caught a whiff of Mai’s perfume. Jounouchi must have caught it too, since his pace increased and his expression brightened. Atem kept his face neutral as he moved silently through the woods. Just because they could smell her, didn’t mean she was still of this world. Each step brought them closer, and another scent mingled with the scent of Mai’s perfume. Atem knew it in his heart that it was the scent of the one who had been killing his men.

Tonight, he would put an end to it.

He and Jounouchi reached a clearing where a man stood in a circle drawn in Mai’s blood with Mai trembling in the center. The man turned slowly, the grin on his face unnaturally wide. 

“Oh I knew you’d be useful,” the man cackled, twirling a hammer in his hand.

“It’s the fucker,” Jounouchi whispered to Atem, although Atem needed no introduction. He took a step closer and the man tutted.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, great Pharaoh. One wrong move and I activate the circle and you get to watch her turn to dust.” he crooned out, baring his teeth in a mockery of a smile. 

“What do you want?” Atem demanded, mentally calculating how quickly he could get in and out of that circle without it activating. He hated hostage situations. 

“What do I want?” the man paused, pressing the head of his hammer to his chin in contemplation. “I want my own body. I think one more vampire should be enough to do it... but it’s no fun without an audience, you know-”

“Take me instead,” Jounouchi cut him off.

“Jounouchi!” Atem hissed, scowling. That’s not how these things generally worked. He was about to order Jounouchi to stay out of this when the man who had caused Atem so much heartache for the past few months started laughing.

“How admirable! How courageous! How stupid!” he sneered, shadows growing around him in the form of tendrils that snaked around Atem’s and Jounouchi’s ankles. “You think you have a choice in the matter? I’ll take you both!” 

The last thought Atem had as he was dragged into a circle that would surely kill him was that he should have brought backup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> -Vampires are not allergic to garlic, they just have an acute sense of smell and garlic is stinky.  
> -This is a good thing, as Jounouchi's specialty is Italian food  
> -Ryou has never used a ouija board but finds them fascinating like people find serial killers fascinating.  
> -Yugi has used a ouija board and Did Not Enjoy It  
> -Mokuba learned Arabic online, but not as recently as Yugi assumes  
> -If Jounouchi wasn't so focused on finding Mai, he'd give Atem the shovel talk  
> -Shoutout to WavesOver for figuring things out~


	7. This Is The End For You, You Gutter Crawling Cur!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hunting party is amassed. Snacks are had. Ryou practices anatomy.

“I’m a crazy (crazy) son of a bitch  
I’ma cut you (cut you) swish swish   
In a knife fight (knife fight)   
Knife fight knife fight”

-Knife Fight, Lemon Demon

Ryou took ten minutes to settle down from his adventures in psychography, spending them spaced out while rolling a smooth ball of obsidian between his palms. He was vaguely aware of what was going on around him- Yugi had made a deal with the little fae that hung around Kaiba- Mokuba- and now they were playing chess. Kaiba was probably in the kitchen antagonizing Jounouchi.

He heard the sound of someone walking out of the house aggressively and sighed internally, pulling himself back to awareness. Ryou set down the piece of obsidian and started putting the other stones he brought out away in their bags. Kaiba walked out of the kitchen with a scowl on his face, which meant the person who rushed out of the dorm was likely Jounouchi. 

“So how’d that go?” Mokuba asked, not looking up from his chessboard. “Did you kiss him?”

“He ran off. Something about that Mai woman being in trouble,” Kaiba replied, not answering the question. He sounded peeved, which made Ryou wonder if there was something going on between those two.

“Seriously? That guy’s gonna get himself killed yet,” Honda grumbled as he wandered into the living room.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Yugi pointed out, moving a chess piece and making Mokuba whistle in appreciation. 

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Kaiba sneered.

“Well if you’re going around kissing one of my best friends, you absolutely do,” Yugi replied. “Come on, as if you two haven’t been making eyes at each other all month,” 

“Ooh they have?” Ryou could hear Mokuba’s grin.

“Can we not discuss this right now? That idiot is probably getting himself into trouble,” Kaiba hissed. 

“Yeah well, how are we going to find him?” Honda asked. 

“I’ve got a tracking spell I can use,” Ryou piped up, having rested enough from his ghost adventures that something simple as a location spell would be easy enough.

“Tracking spell,” Kaiba repeated in disbelief. 

“Yep,” Ryou smiled cheerfully at him. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll whip one up,” He didn’t give Kabia a chance to make a fuss at him and got up to run into his room and grab the supplies needed. Ryou hoped that Kaiba was done with his skeptical nonsense by the time the spell was ready. For someone who grew up with a fae he really had a hard time accepting the supernatural. Besides, Ryou hated doing magic in front of a crowd. 

A few minutes later and Ryou returned to the living room with a battered compass whose needle was definitely not pointing north to find his friends were discussing weapons. 

“I’m just saying I’d rather be armed and look silly than be unarmed and dead,” Honda was saying, holding a baseball bat with nails sticking out of its end. 

“Those nails iron?” Ryou asked cheerily.

“Yep,” Honda confirmed. Ryou gave a nod of approval.

“Take some knives. And a first aid kit,” Ryuuji called from the kitchen, seeming to be putting some gnocchi away. 

“On it,” Honda walked off with a purpose. Ryou walked into the kitchen and selected the communal bread knife. (He’d been reading Good Omens recently and felt a particular connection to Anathema Device.)

“Seto, do you want one?” Yugi asked as he walked into the kitchen. “Ooh, gnocchi,” 

“I have my own, thank you,” Kaiba assured Yugi. “Mokuba, you stay here,” 

“Absolutely not,” Mokuba replied. “I can help!”

“You’ll get hurt,” Kaiba insisted.

“No I won’t! If anything you’re more likely to get hurt and I have to keep you safe,” Mokuba retorted. 

“That doesn’t make any logical sense!” Kaiba snapped. Ryou glanced down at his compass. They only had thirty minutes to find Jounouchi before the spell wore off and explaining Mokuba would probably eat up at least half of that. 

“Kaiba,” he called out, making the man turn and glare at him. “Look. I’m guessing Mokuba will follow us whether or not you forbid him from coming. Let’s just bring him along. You never know, he could be helpful! Besides, we don’t have time for this,” 

“If he gets hurt that’s on you, Bakura,” Kaiba snapped after a moment’s thought. Ryou shrugged.

“First aid kit, remember?” he pointed out, gesturing to Honda who returned to the living room.

“Oi Yugi, do me a favor and grab a bottle of blood? Just in case,” he called. Yugi nodded and opened the fridge, grabbing one of Jounouchi’s bottles.

“Are we all set? Let’s go,” Ryou urged the group, glancing at the faintly glowing compass in his hands. “The spell only lasts for a little while,” 

“Coming Ryuuji?” Honda asked, softly, hopefully. Ryuuji shook his head from where he stood.

“I’m bound here,” he said simply. “So bring my little ducklings safely home,” 

“Will do,” Honda saluted Ryuuji and the group headed out into the cool night air. Ryou took the lead, following the needle of his compass as it shifted and bounced. 

“The fox went out on a chase one night/Bayed to the moon to give him light/ he had many-a mile to go that night/before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o...” Mokuba sang softly as they walked. Ryou glanced up and saw it was nearly a full moon, silver light reflecting off of the freshly fallen snow in a rather pretty way. 

“Does that thing say where he is?” Kaiba asked abruptly. Ryou shook his head.

“Just points in a direction. I don’t know how far away he is,” he answered.

“Bullshit,” Kaiba grumbled.

“Hey, I know you’re worried about Jou, but don’t take it out on Ryou. He’s trying to help,” Yugi piped up. “Besides, you shouldn’t cuss around your brother,” Kaiba grumbled something under his breath as they passed the Domino Cemetery, which lay nestled between the town proper and the local nature preserve, commonly referred to as the woods. 

Ryou knew Bakura was following them, but was still startled when the vampire jumped down from a nearby tree and matched pace with Ryou as they walked. His companions were even more startled.

“What the fuck!” Honda yelped.

“Who is that?” Kaiba demanded.

“Oh great, the thief guy is here,” Yugi sighed. 

“I’m not a thief guy, I'm The Thief King,” Bakura corrected frostily, glancing at Ryou. “Is that a knife in your pocket or are you happy to see me?”

“It’s a knife,” Ryou assured him, pulling said knife out. Bakura inspected it.

“A steak knife would be easier to use,” he pointed out, deciding to give his professional opinion. 

“I’m not looking for easy. I’m looking for painful,” Ryou replied cheerfully. Bakura grinned in approval.

“Jesus, Ryou,” Honda muttered. 

“Says the guy with a baseball bat with nails in it,” Ryou countered.

“So, who are we going to bloody up tonight?” Bakura asked, his voice like a purr under Ryou’s ear. Ryou focused on his compass pointedly, not liking how it trembled as they moved into the forest proper.

“Hopefully no one, but we think Jounouchi got himself in trouble,” Yugi explained.

“Who the fuck?” Bakura asked.

“Language,” Kaiba hissed.

“Fledgeling living in our dorm,” Ryou explained, pausing as he heard a terribly familiar maniacal laugh. “Oh no,” 

“I don’t like the way that sounds,” Yugi muttered as they drew closer, hiding behind a large band of shrubbery. 

Around the edges of the bush they found a circle drawn in stark red, with Jounouchi, the Pharaoh, Mai, and Malik lying slumped inside it. Standing just outside it was someone who looked very similar to Malik but with his hair sticking out at odd angles and a manic look on his face. He was also very naked. 

“Fuck!” the entity announced. “It’s cold!” 

“Should have thought to make yourself some clothes,” Malik muttered. The entity whirled around and stomped over to him, arms crossed in front of his chest. 

“Give me your jacket,” he demanded.

“No, it’s cold,” Malik groused. The entity reached down and grabbed Malik by the collar, promptly taking off his jacket with little to no resistance from Malik. Ryou pursed his lips- he didn’t like that, or how heavily Malik was breathing. He didn’t like how still Jounouchi and The Pharaoh and Mai were. Something had to be done.

“I’ll distract him-” 

“Honda no. You’ve got the blood, you need to get it to those guys in the circle. I’m amazed they haven’t turned to dust yet,” Yugi shook his head.

“They’re gonna need more than I’ve got,” Honda pointed out.

“I’ll go with then,” Yugi replied simply. 

“I have a better idea- fuck the lot of them and go home,” Bakura remarked quietly. 

“I’d rather not- Miss Mai is not my type and the other two are taken,” Ryou replied before Honda could get mad. He glanced at Kaiba, who was watching the scene with the same cool look in his eyes that he had when he played chess, the few times Ryou had seen it. (He also had a hand over Mokuba’s eyes, which was darling.)

“Separate the naked guy from the others,” Kaiba said finally, glancing at Ryou. “Dork squad goes in and feeds the vampires, then they flank.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Ryou nodded, placing the cool blade of his knife against his arm. The spell he had in mind required a little pain.

“You lot are idiots,” Bakura grumbled. “Stop that Ryou, I have a better use for that blood of yours,” 

“Seriously?” Kaiba grumbled. “I swear vampires all have a one track mind,” 

“I’m almost at full power, I won’t need a lot. That thing out there though is stronger than the average human, I can smell it,” Bakura explained. Ryou worried his lip. “It will save your friends,”

“And you won’t just cut and run?” Ryou asked skeptically. 

“Who do you take me for? If I say I will do a thing, I will do it,” Bakura replied, only sounding a little offended. Ryou sighed and shifted his hair over so Bakura had a clear shot at his neck, tucking his shirt down.

“If you drain me, I’m haunting your ass,” Ryou informed Bakura, wishing his heart wasn’t pounding so quickly. Was it fear? Anticipation? Bakura paused, his lips ghosting over Ryou’s neck.

“Oh? Good,” he said simply before Ryou’s vision abruptly became wrapped in black velvet.

\---  
Bakura stood in the darkness with the taste of Ryou’s blood heavy in his mouth- thick and rich and permeated with power- and walked the moonlit streets before him. He had no idea where he was, which was a side effect of drinking someone’s blood- it’s easy to fall into their memories. Something felt off about this though as he looked around at the scenery around him. Bakura found a tree and walked up to it, examining its leaves. They weren’t individual ones like they should, but instead a clump of textured material plastic painted green. Everything around him showed delicate brushstrokes, as if someone had hand-painted the universe. The dirt under his feet was too dry and crumbly and all the same color. Bakura looked up at the sky and realized with a start that the bright white light in the sky he’d previously assumed was the moon was actually something very large and woman-shaped with a porcelain mask over her face that barely hid her eyes and nose. Her mouth was visible though, and through perfectly formed lips Bakura could see thousands of needle-like teeth. 

“I told you, he’s mine,” she told Bakura in the same voice that spilled out of Ryou the first night he met him, sounding childlike but making Bakura’s bones shake. “Naughty thieves get punished,” 

“He didn’t steal anything though,” Ryou’s voice piped up. Bakura squinted and spotted Ryou sitting calmly on top of this creature’s head, nestled in her shadow black hair. The woman lifted an impossibly large hand with too-long fingers and plucked Ryou from his spot on top of her head and held him in her massive palm, tilting her head to the side like a bird.

“You’re defending him?” she asked.

“I fancy him,” Ryou replied. “And I let him drink my blood. You know I wouldn’t just let anyone drink my blood, right?” 

“But that blond...”

“He’s my friend,” Ryou explained.

“No, the other one. The leeching spell walking around,” the woman clarified. “What about that time?”

“That time he didn’t have my permission,” Ryou admitted. “And my Thief King friend is going to go fight him now that he’s had some of my blood,” 

“Is that true, thief?” the woman peered down at Bakura.

“Yeah,” he replied, trying to be nonchalant about it without coming across as deceptive. 

“Hm,” the woman hummed.

“I thought he was a human? What do you mean by leeching spell?” Ryou asked.

“He used to be human, and now he’s not. Same goes with the boy he used to possess. Same goes with you,” the woman replied, slowly lowering Ryou to stand next to Bakura. “Hm. I suppose you two are cute together. I give you my boon. Come visit me more, Ryou, I miss you,” 

The Lady of The Moon trembled for a moment, and then turned into a cloud of variously colored moths that all swirled around Ryou like he was a lamp in the darkness. By the way he was glowing, Bakura supposed that was right.

His eyes snapped open and he was kneeling behind a bush, holding Ryou in his arms. A black tendril slammed between Bakura and the cranky brunet who was next to him.

“Do you see that Malik? We have company~” the leeching spell guy crooned. “Oh and you brought me that cute young man from earlier, how kind,” Bakura scowled, grabbed Ryou’s bread knife (which now had a bluish white glow to it) and leapt out from behind the bushes. The cranky brunet from earlier jumped out too, brandishing the cutest little switchknife Bakura had ever seen. He glanced at Bakura with a look that told Bakura he was ready to Fuck Shit Up, which Bakura liked to see in a man. Bakura nodded, and they both lunged.

\---  
As soon as Seto and Bakura engaged the evil spirit, Yugi and Honda leapt into action. Yugi grabbed Ryou’s arm and pulled him along as they scampered to the circle. He left Ryou next to the blond Yugi assumed was Malik and turned to look at the three vampires that had entered his life.

“How much blood do you have?” Mai croaked out.

“One bottle,” Honda replied, pulling the bottle out. 

“Shit, that’s not gonna be enough,” she grumbled.

“That’s why I’m here,” Yugi raised his hand. Honda made a face- yeah, he probably disapproved of Yugi offering his blood but they were low on options. 

“...Yugi, you go take care of our Pharaoh, Honda, you take care of Katsuya,” Mai ordered.

“What about you?” Honda asked. 

“I’ll survive,” she told him firmly. “Take care of the other two first,” 

Yugi watched Honda rush to Jounouchi and roll him over- he looked too pale and wasn’t moving. He cracked open the cool bottle of blood and placed it to Jounouchi’s lips, which perked him up immediately. Yugi walked over to where Atem lay and sat down next to him, nudging him.

“Hey, Atem,” he murmured, feeling for his knife. This was gonna hurt. 

“Yu...gi,” Atem’s eyelids fluttered and he opened them, staring hazily at Yugi. Yugi smiled and waved at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving you all,” Yugi replied. “I’m amazed you all are still alive! I mean, in a manner of speaking,” 

“I took the brunt of it,” Atem gasped out, glancing at the fight and grimacing. “Bakura’s going to kill me,” 

“I won’t let him,” Yugi replied fiercely. Atem chuckled.

“I’m sure you’ll try. You should stay away from me- in this state, I need blood,” he explained.

“That’s why I’m here,” Yugi replied, holding up the cute little paring knife he’d borrowed from Ryuuji. “Just trying to figure out where to cut,” Atem sat up slowly.

“Oh, no no no. That won’t do,” Atem shook his head. “Let me, it won’t hurt you that way,” 

“Oh, okay,” Yugi blinked at this as Atem reached for Yugi’s leather choker with hands that held a slight tremble. Yugi helped Atem take the choker off, their hands brushing often- Atem’s hands were deathly cold in a way that hurt Yugi’s heart. 

“Do you trust me?” Atem asked him quietly.

“Absolutely,” Yugi replied seriously. His eyes snapped out of focus and he felt Atem pull him close, felt cold breath on his skin with a funny kind of calmness as if this was natural, common. Yugi’s hand went lax and the knife fell to the ground as he felt a burning sensation on his neck, not even painful. Yugi tried to focus his eyes but they just wouldn’t so he just watched blurry shapes over Atem’s shoulder- moving shadows and a blur of pale grey dancing around each other. He could hear Jounouchi’s voice yelling but wasn’t sure what he was saying. That was fine though, Yugi was safe in Atem’s arms. 

All too soon, Atem pulled away and Yugi felt someone warm warm too warm pressing something to his neck. Yugi whined and his vision snapped into focus- Jounouchi had joined the fight, what looked like flames licking his fists. Oddly enough, Seto had frost growing along his shoulders and some of the cuts on the evil spirit had ice crawling out of them. Mokuba sat in midair behind Seto, his hair floating and his eyes glowing. Just another day for the Kaiba siblings, Yugi supposed hazily. 

“Bakura!” Atem called out, rising to his full height with the kind of fluid grace of a dancer, or maybe a big cat. 

“What?” Bakura snapped back, slicing at the evil spirit with Ryou’s bread knife. Yugi winced at the thought of the kind of cut that would leave behind.

“Truce?” Atem yelled. Bakura considered it for a moment.

“Fine, just don’t get in my way,” he replied. Yugi could practically hear Atem’s grin as he joined the fight.

A four on one fight should have been over quickly, but the evil spirit employed some kind of tendril things made of some material so dark it pulled in the light around them, which caused problems. Ryou’s bread knife seemed to be able to cut through them, which was good, but Bakura was only one vampire and was getting annoyed at having to cut Seto and Jounouchi free from their entanglements. Yugi did notice that Seto’s switchblade knife seemed to do more damage to the evil spirit than Jounouchi’s flaming fists or the sword made out of pure shadow Atem wielded did.

“Yugi, you okay?” Ryou asked, drawing Yugi’s attention.

“Mm, I’m okay. Kinda fuzzy though,” he admitted, realizing he’d been leaning on Honda and doing nothing to change that.

“Who’s winning?” Malik asked.

“Hard to tell,” Yugi replied, not really sure where Malik stood in all this. “Your evil spirit guy seems to be holding his own,”

“He’s not mine,” Malik grumbled. Yugi shrugged. 

“Seto’s knife is doing more damage than the others. Well, and the breadknife. Why’s it glowing?” he asked.

“Moon magic,” Ryou replied.

“Like Sailor Moon?” Yugi furrowed his brow.

“Something like that. And Kaiba’s blade is iron so...” Ryou tapped his chin, thinking. “Amane said he was human at one point, but now if iron is affecting him that means he’s fae,”

“Are you sure?” Malik asked.

“No other creature is that drastically affected by cold iron,” Ryou explained. “Vampires, it’s silver. Ghosts, it’s salt. Demons... well, iron affects them too, but hot iron. This creature isn’t demonic in nature,” 

“As long as you’re sure about that,” Honda muttered, shuddering. 

“I am,” Ryou turned to Malik. “I need you to remember when you first met this creature. How did you meet?”

“I...” Malik twisted his hands together, shuddering. “The vampire didn’t cut Rishid’s throat,”

“No,” Ryou nodded.

“I did,” Malik whispered softly.

“You were possessed,” Ryou pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter, these hands are still bloodied,” Malik moved his fingers together in a way that made them all crack audibly. “The other me... that thing out there? I want it dead.” 

“Fae are hard to kill,” Ryou remarked.

“So are vampires,” Malik countered.

“Vampires are easier,” Ryou shook his head. “I can seal him though. I just need his name,” 

“Is that all?” Honda muttered sarcastically. 

“Oh, I know it,” Malik replied. Honda coughed. 

“Seriously?” he demanded.

“Yeah,” Malik pulled out a stupidly sized book and cracked it open, pointing to a nameplate on the inside cover that read in rather pretty Arabic ‘Property of Nuri, all trespassers will be killed’. “I asked him about it when I was younger and he got very mad. Doesn’t like his name,” 

“Nuri. It means my light,” Yugi mumbled, watching the shadowy tendrils attack Atem with a frown. 

“Do you have a knife I can use? Bakura has mine,” Ryou asked politely.

“I have a baseball bat,” Honda offered helpfully.

“Mmm, not my style,” Ryou shook his head. “Thank you though,” Malik pulled a knife out of his sleeve and wordlessly handed it over to Ryou, who took it with a polite ‘thank you’ and stood. 

“What are you doing?” Malik asked.

“Finishing this,” Ryou replied grimly, watching Atem and Bakura slice at Nuri mercilessly while Nuri swung his hammer at them recklessly. “Bakura, can you hold him?” he asked softly. Even over the battle, Yugi saw Bakura’s eyes flicker to Ryou, and he nodded. “Nuri!”

Nuri froze in place for a second, which was enough time for Bakura to get behind him and hook his arms under Nuri’s. Atem, Jounouchi, and Seto circled the two with weapons and fists at the ready. Nuri was rather damaged- the leather coat he’d taken from Malik was tattered and scorched in some areas, frosted over in others. Black blood oozed sluggishly from healing wounds.

“How did you get my name?” Nuri spat. His eyes fell on Malik and they widened. “You traitorous dog!” 

“You killed my brother!” Malik snapped back.

“He was going to stop us!” Nuri snarled.

“Enough of that now,” Ryou pushed aside some of Nuri’s tattered clothes and started tapping along his chest.

“What’s he doing?” Honda asked quietly.

“Counting ribs,” Malik replied grimly.

“Come now, you don’t need to tease me like this,” Nuri cooed. 

“I need the hammer,” Ryou ignored Nuri’s teasing. Seto walked over and wrenched the hammer out of Nuri’s grasp, handing it over. “Thank you, Kaiba,”

“Seto. We’re on a first name basis now,” Seto corrected him.

“Okay,” Ryou smiled before ramming the knife between Nuri’s ribs. “Nuri, I bind you.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Nuri screamed, writhing in place. Ryou cut alongside the rib, causing black blood to spray. 

“Nuri, I bind you,” he intoned, slipping the claw of the hammer into the wound. Yugi felt a bit of nausea, but didn’t look away.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll destroy you! I’ll break you! I’ll enslave you!” Nuri howled.

“Nuri, I bind you,” Ryou replied, keeping his tone the same as when he was performing the psychography, the same as when he did any kind of magic. Yugi realized that Ryou was glowing in the moonlight overhead. 

“I will haunt your nightmares,” Nuri wheezed. Ryou smiled.

“Get in line,” he replied. “Nuri, I bind you,” 

Nuri’s body trembled and exploded into a mass of boils. Yugi noticed that his hammer had a long, vertical slit in it that opened and swallowed the greasy black boils with a disgusting slurping noise. At this Yugi squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears- he’d seen quite enough thank you. 

“Yugi,” Atem’s smooth baritone cut through the distress Yugi was feeling. He blinked and looked up at the handsome vampire crouched in front of him. “Are you alright?”

“F-fine,” Yugi stammered. “Just. Gross.” 

“Sorry!” Ryou called from somewhere behind Atem. “Had to be done!” 

“I’ve called a car to get us back to my place,” Atem explained, scooping Yugi up into his arms. “You are all welcome to stay there for the night,” 

“Even me?” Bakura asked.

“Truce, remember?” Atem replied with a grin in his voice. 

“Good. Your showers are frankly ridiculous and it’s going to take an immense soaking to get the stink of that bitch out of Ryou,” Bakura groused. Atem laughed, and started carrying Yugi through the forest. Yugi exhaled slowly and relaxed in Atem’s arms, watching the snow drift down around them. He felt cold seeping in, the adrenaline of what had just happened wearing down. Just around the time Yugi started shivering they cleared the forest and stood in front of the longest limousine Yugi had ever seen.

“That’s your ride?” he asked softly.

“Mhm,” Atem opened the door and climbed inside, still holding Yugi. Yugi let out a pleased noise at the warm interior of the vehicle and shifted so he was sitting next to Atem instead of in his lap. Atem had just the subtlest of pouts on his face, which made Yugi grin. Sitting in Atem’s lap was great and all, but if they were in a moving vehicle Yugi was going to be buckled in. Ryou sat next to Yugi, the evil hammer that presumably carried Nuri sitting in his lap. Bakura sat next to Ryou, fussing over him subtly. Honda sat across from Bakura with his baseball bat bouncing nervously on his knee. Mokuba sat next to Honda with Seto on his other side, the two of them in deep conversation. Jounouchi sat next to Seto, staring at his fists in quiet wonder. 

“That’s some power you have,” Atem spoke up. 

“I have no idea where it came from,” Jounouchi murmured.

“The act of becoming a vampire can awaken latent abilities in people,” Atem explained.

“Should have known you’d be a hothead,” Mai remarked from the front seat, reaching back into the cooler between the front and back seats and fishing out a bottle of blood. Atem reached into the cooler and pulled out two bottles of water, passing one to Ryou and the other to Yugi.

“You should drink, replenish your fluids,” Atem told Yugi very seriously. Yugi giggled without meaning to, but opened the frosty bottle and took little sips, watching the others. 

Seto and Mokuba seemed to have finished their little conversation, leaving Seto sitting ramrod straight while Mokuba fished through his pockets and pulled out his phone to play a game, if Yugi judged by the cheerful music playing from it. Speaking of which...

“Hey Mokuba, is it alright if I give you your second chess match tomorrow? I’m too tired to play chess tonight,” Yugi said.

“Oh sure, I don’t want to play chess with you like that anyways,” Mokuba replied cheerfully.

“Good,” Yugi nodded.

“There’s no time limit. I’ll get my game when you’re well enough to be a challenge,” Mokuba added ominously before going back to his phone. Tweens these days. Yugi sighed and found his head resting so very comfortably against Atem. He could probably rest his eyes for just a moment...

...The next thing Yugi knew he was being carried inside a dimly lit room. Yugi blinked muzzily and looked around, trying to pick out details- there were more chandeliers wrapped in sheer curtains in plum and crimson that gave their light a muted hue, statues and beautiful paintings hanging on red painted walls, vines and ferns springing from each corner.

“This is your house?” Yugi asked Atem sleepily.

“Mhm. I’m taking you to my room so that you can sleep,” Atem replied in that sexy bassy rumble of his. If Yugi was more awake he’d squirm and flush at the thought of being in Atem’s bed, but at the moment all he could think about was snuggling into a pile of blankets. Feeling an awful lot like someone’s pet cat, Yugi watched as Atem entered a room and clicked on a light, revealing the largest bed Yugi had seen in his life. 

“Wow...” he murmured. “That’s some bed,” 

“You still have this thing?” Bakura asked as he walked into the bedroom.

“No! This is a new one, obviously,” Atem replied hotly. Yugi arched a brow. “Mattresses need to be replaced every so often,” 

“Whatever you say, Pharaoh,” Bakura shrugged, wrapping an arm around Ryou and leading him off to what Yugi hoped was the bathroom- Ryou was absolutely covered in black gunk. Atem set Yugi down on the edge of the bed and crouched down before him, working on Yugi’s laces.

“Ah, I can do that,” Yugi assured Atem, his body deciding that was an appropriate time to flush. Seeing Atem down on his knees with such a serious look on his face as he contemplated the laces and buckles on Yugi’s most awesome boots was an image Yugi would have seared into his brain for a while. “See, it goes like this,” Yugi explained, carefully bending over to undo the laces first, then the buckles.

“Why are they so complicated?” Atem asked.

“Because they look cool,” Yugi answered. “They’re super comfortable too. I saved up a lot to get these,” 

“Then I will take good care of them,” Atem nodded seriously, setting the shoes aside. He looked up at Yugi seriously. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Yugi replied automatically. Atem looked skeptical. “Just a bit tired, that’s all,” 

“You’re welcome to sleep as long as you need. This is the safest place in all of Domino City,” Atem assured Yugi. Yugi glanced around at the bed- it was honestly enormous.

“It’s so big,” he murmured, flopping back onto it. The bed was soft, but not too soft. He felt Atem shift around on the bed and shortly after felt the softness of a pillow under his head. 

“I like having room to stretch out,” Atem explained, doing just that right next to Yugi. Yugi rolled onto his side and tucked the pillow under his head, smiling at Atem. Atem reached over and brushed a piece of hair out of Yugi’s face, smiling back. It wasn’t a scary smile, but a nice one. Yugi could still see Atem’s fangs, but they didn’t scare him. 

\---  
“I’m not scared,” Seto muttered. “Why do we have to stay here?”

“We don’t, but I have no idea how far away our dorm is from here and honestly? I nearly died. You got into a fight with some tentacle monster fae dude. It won’t kill you to accept the hospitality,” Jounouchi replied firmly, watching Seto pace in the room they’d snagged to pass out in. Jounouchi was tempted to find himself his own room but didn’t want to leave Seto alone with his thoughts. It had been quite the night for him, after all. 

“What will I have to give in return?” Seto demanded. Jounouchi stared at him, and then flopped back on the bed.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Jounouchi replied, craning his head up to watch Seto, who stood at the foot of the bed and glowered at him. 

“You’re-”

“An idiot?” Jounouchi offered.

“Impossible,” Seto corrected, sitting delicately on the edge of the bed, reminding Jounouchi of a bird. “How did you even get in that circle to begin with?”

“I offered myself as a substitute for Mai,” Jounouchi replied. “Fucker took all three of us though,” 

“Should have seen that coming,” Seto quipped, and fell silent for a moment. “You love Mai,”

“Like a sister,” Jounouchi clarified. Seto twisted and turned to look at Jounouchi. 

“She picked you up at a bar- you two weren’t going to go paint each other's nails,” he said sharply.

“That was then. This is now,” Jounouchi shrugged. “She doesn’t date her own fledgelings and I’m not interested in her like that anymore. Besides, if Mokuba was hurt wouldn’t you risk everything to go save him?” 

“Of course,” Seto replied automatically.

“So relax. Jealousy isn’t a good look on you,” Jounouchi continued, grinning a little.

“Who said I’m jealous?” Seto demanded.

“You did,” Jounouchi replied. After a tense moment, Seto sighed and as delicately as he could, laid back on the bed. “There you go. Was that so hard?”

“Don’t make me get up,” Seto grumbled. Jounouchi snickered. 

“Adrenaline is wearing off- you’ll sleep like a baby tonight,” he predicted.

“How would you know?” Seto asked.

“This wasn’t my first rodeo you know. I always crashed hard after a good brawl,” Jounouchi sighed fondly, remembering. 

“Should have known you were a delinquent,” Seto sniped.

“It’s a part of my charm,” Jounouchi said primly, turning in bed so he could see Seto. Surprisingly, Seto was already on his side, looking at him. 

“I suppose,” Seto finally sighed. Jounouchi was startled by the surge of warmth in his chest at that comment and a slow smile spread on his face. “God, you’re a sap,”

“Excuse me?” Jounouchi frowned and looked at Seto, who was averting his gaze in the dark.

“That smile,” he muttered.

“You can see in the dark?” Jounouchi asked.

“I always did have good night vision. You’re avoiding the question,” Seto insisted.

“What question?” Jounouchi now felt lost. 

“About you and I,” Seto clarified.

“You never asked,” Jounouchi pointed out.

“I kissed you, didn’t I?” Seto asked.

“Yep. And I kissed you back. But if you want it said out loud, I like you,” Jounouchi told Seto. He relaxed a bit in the dark, and Jounouchi smiled again. Seto was quiet for a few minutes, and Jounouchi wondered if he went to sleep. Then-

“I like you too,” he said softly. “I would be amicable to a relationship.”

“Cool,” Jounouchi nodded, trying to make the glowing feeling in his chest settle the hell down. 

“I hope there isn’t a rule against humans and vampires dating,” Seto remarked after a moment.

“There isn’t exactly but I’m told it doesn’t always end well,” Jounouchi replied quietly.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Seto murmured. “The bed’s too big,”

“You can scoot closer, you know,” Jounouchi told Seto with a sly grin. Seto huffed and scooted closer.

“You’re warm,” he remarked. “I thought vampires were supposed to be cold,”

“I dunno. Probably cuz of the fire powers,” Jounouchi remarked blandly, lifting his hand and summoning a flame to lick his fingers gently. 

“How did that happen anyways?” Seto asked.

“When the circle activated I think... I think I died again.” Jounouchi murmured, thinking. “But like. The Pharaoh did something to extend himself over Mai and me? It felt very weird and I just woke up knowing I had to repay him and it was there. The fire, I mean. Like an old friend,” 

“Bizarre,” Seto remarked.

“You’re one to talk! I saw you doing some ice bullshit out there, what’s up with that?” Jounouchi asked.

“Hm. Something from Mokuba,” Seto said vaguely. “A gift, of sorts. I guess,” 

Jounouchi stayed quiet, even though he was itching to know what the deal was with Mokuba. Having met the kid only in passing, Jounouchi didn’t know much about him- but he did know that Mokuba wasn’t human. He wasn’t judging, so long as Seto wasn’t in danger. 

“I’m not saying what happened with me wasn’t bizarre,” Seto continued. “I’m still wrapping my head around it,”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Jounouchi asked.

“What are you, a therapist?” Seto sneered.

“Don’t gotta be a therapist to listen,” Jounouchi replied. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. I’ve just found it helps,” 

“I’ve never had anyone to listen to me, except Mokuba,” Seto explained slowly, with the same trepidation as someone approaching shark filled waters. “He’s... not human. Fae, if I’m interpreting the clues correctly. He’s always been there but never changed, and I never noticed. I was always too busy, always too distracted. I’m a terrible brother,”

“I can’t assure you you’re not ‘cuz I don’t know your childhood,” Jounouchi replied honestly. “But you know better now, right?”

“He’s bound to my father, I think. I’m going to free him,” Seto announced.

“There you go,” Jounouchi nodded. “We can help,”

“We?” Seto repeated.

“If I were you, I’d ask Ryou for help. He’s good at fae stuff,” Jounouchi explained. “There’s nothing wrong with asking for help,” 

“Hm,” Seto replied quietly. “I suppose I’ll try it your way,” 

Seto fell silent after that, his breathing slowing. Jounouchi stayed awake, doing his best not to stare at Seto as he slept. At one point, Jounouchi succumbed to sleep and took a catnap, waking sometime at three in the morning to see Mokuba hovering in the air at the foot of the bed. Jounouchi blinked sleepily at him. Mokuba looked at Seto, who had wrapped his arms around Jounouchi’s arm and held it close in his sleep, and then back at Jounouchi. 

He smiled.

Jounouchi had to agree with Mai- fae were fucking weird.

\---

“I hope you weren’t fond of those clothes,” Bakura was saying as he closed the door to a rather large bathroom with a circular tub in the center of it. “Because you should burn them. I doubt you’ll get the stains out,” 

Ryou didn’t answer, focusing instead on staying upright. Shadows wriggled in the corners of his vision, hungry for him. Sealing a fae took a lot of magical energy. Stabbing a fae in the heart took a lot of mental energy. All Ryou had left was physical energy, and that was decreased due to Bakura’s snack earlier, leaving him feeling like a wrung out dishcloth.

“Ryou,” Bakura said, standing in front of him with a serious look on his face. “Do I have to undress you? Because I will-”

“No, I can do that,” Ryou cut Bakura off, leaning against the doorframe to take off his shoes. “Can you wait outside?”

“You look like you’re going to pass out any moment,” Bakura shook his head. “Besides, Atem is making gooey eyes at his human and it’s gross,” 

Ryou snorted at this and shook his head, peeling off his socks. Even they were speckled with black, which made Ryou grimace. He started peeling off layers- first his hoodie, which Ryou rolled in on itself to keep the black gooey parts from smearing all over the Pharaoh’s nice marble countertops. He could hear water running but focused on undressing instead, deciding to forgo the concerns about Bakura watching him undress. Sandalwood perfumed the steam that slowly filled the room, bringing goosebumps to Ryou’s skin as it was exposed. Ryou carefully made his way to the tub and stepped into the water, grimacing at how hot it was. He slipped and lost his footing, only to feel icy hands grab his torso and gently lower him into the steaming bath. 

“Good thing I was here,” Bakura remarked, turning off the water. Ryou was too busy getting used to the hot water to respond eloquently, simply groaning and sinking into the water until his nose was just above the water.

“This is the biggest tub I’ve ever been in,” Ryou mumbled into the water.

“It’s fucking ridiculous,” Bakura agreed, splashing water on top of Ryou’s head.

“Oi!” Ryou whined. “What are you doing?”

“Washing your hair. There’s black shit in it,” Bakura explained.

“Warn me!” Ryou grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Didn’t think you needed warning,” Bakura quipped, dumping another handful of water onto Ryou’s head. Ryou sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth that enveloped his scalp. “I could just push your head underwater,”

“Please don’t,” Ryou mumbled. Bakura cackled, massaging shampoo into Ryou’s hair. Before he could start splashing more water to rinse Ryou’s hair, Ryou took a deep breath and dunked himself under the water, agitating his hair with his hands before surfacing.

“You splashed me!” Bakura complained. Ryou beamed at him, pushing sopping (clean) hair out of his face.

“There are towels,” he remarked mildly. Bakura glanced down at himself and promptly took his shirt off.

“I have a better idea,” he said, grinning sharply and standing. When Ryou realized Bakura was taking his pants of he politely looked away. “You’re not watching?”

“It’s not polite,” Ryou retorted, feeling his cheeks grow warm. 

“If anything it’s rude not to watch,” Bakura announced, getting into the bathtub with a dramatic motion that sent water sloshing over the sides of the tub. Ryou felt bad for whoever had to clean the bathroom. “Wow, you’re actually blushing,” 

“I’m not usually in a bathtub with an attractive and naked man,” Ryou replied, meaning to look at Bakura’ face but instead getting distracted by his pecs. They were nice. 

“So... you think I’m attractive?” Bakura purred, the most wicked smirk on his face.

“Obviously!” Ryou retorted, his face heating up even more. He shifted in place quickly and his head spun, so he grabbed the edge of the bathtub to steady himself. 

“Am I making you swoon with my delectable looks?” Bakura teased. Ryou didn’t respond, so Bakura tipped his chin up with still cool hands that felt wonderful on Ryou’s flaming face. “Are you still with me? Can’t have you drowning now,” 

“I’ll try not to,” Ryou muttered, leaning into Bakura’s touch. “I need to sleep after this,”

“I can tell. Pharaoh’s got a pretty big bed, there will be room for us,” Bakura replied easily, running his thumb across Ryou’s cheek. Ryou smiled weakly at the gesture. 

“Why is it so big anyways?” he mumbled.

“Atem’s a slut. Needs room for orgies,” Bakura explained. Ryou looked up at him, furrowing his brow.

“Slut?” he repeated.

“Yep,” Bakura nodded.

“And you know this because...”

“We have a history,” Bakura shrugged. He then paused. “Basically a string of one night stands where I robbed him blind each time. Ah, good times,” 

“He kept...falling for it?” Ryou shook his head. “How?”

“What can I say, I’m devilishly charming” Bakura grinned. 

“Sure are,” Ryou muttered, not moving from his spot. The steam was starting to get to him and his eyelids drooped. Bakura shifted and moved Ryou so he was leaning on Bakura and the edge of the tub. The coolness of Bakura’s skin felt nice compared to the heat of the water.

Ryou didn’t remember getting out of the tub, but he did remember shivering against a terry cloth bathrobe as Bakura combed out his hair, muttering under his breath. Something about the tone Bakura used, equally exasperated and fond, made Ryou smile. 

The Pharaoh’s bed was too soft, but plenty big. Ryou snuggled into it without question or complaint, falling asleep to Bakura next to him rumbling something in a language he didn’t understand. 

Ryou let Amane take him to her playground in his sleep, laying contentedly in her too-large hands. He knew she could be cruel, but this night she did not make him run. 

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts  
> -The song Mokuba sings is one from my family's campfire songbook  
> -It's not a fic with Ryou in it if his dioramas don't show up!  
> -The diorama in question is still at Ryou's house in England  
> -This is the first fic that has tentacles in a non-sexy fashion  
> -Atem's bed is an Alaskan King. Big boy.  
> -Mai and Honda crashed on Atem's couch.  
> Story Notes  
> -So this is it! I hope you' all enjoyed! I intend on writing some more stuff with this world (mostly smut l o l ) but I'll put that in a separate story. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Facts:  
> -Ryou sleeps on a mattress in a box, Yugi on an air mattress  
> -Honda ended up being Ryuuji's roommate  
> -Even though Duel Monsters isn't a thing in this fic, Yugi still needed his deck!


End file.
